Unspeakable Truths Vol 1: The Truth is Out There
by unspeakable writer
Summary: After the events of his 5th year Harry is approached by the a seperate faction in the war and given a choice, allow Dumbledore to continue manipulating his life, or become an Unspeakable Operative. Pre HBP
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter: Unspeakable Truths Vol: 1 The truth is out there.

Disclaimer: HP cast is copyright JK Rowling, and her publishers. Several other character references are borrowed from Rorschach's Blot.

Special Thanks to my wonderful Beta KDTheRavenclaw and also the entire (and somewhat insane) group on Rorsch's Yahoo group.

**Chapter One – Feel this Way**

It had been seven long days since the school term ended and things were not looking up for the Boy Who Lived. After being banished to his bedroom on 4 Privett Drive, Harry Potter was restless, the grief of losing his godfather was only matched by the guilt for leading him and his best friends into an ambush that had nearly gotten them all killed. With his godfather there was no almost, he had gotten Sirius killed, and once again by luck, fate, or whatever you want to call it, he, the Boy Who Lived, managed to once again keep his title, coming way from the whole ordeal without a permanent scratch.

He had already lashed out once, destroying most of his headmaster's possessions (and a good portion of his office) in the process. Now… now he just wanted to rest, to forget what had happened, hoping that if he closed his eyes this would all be just a nightmare, and he would be sitting on the Hogwarts Express at the start of his 5th year. He would open them to find Neville looking for his toad, Hermione arguing with Ron, Luna reading the Quibbler upside down, and Ginny sitting quietly just watching what was going on.

He closed and then slowly opened his eyes, no such luck. He was starting to sink deeper in his depression. It had been a week since the start of summer holiday and still no word from any of his friends. Not so much as a 'Hey Mate how you doing?' from Ron, he'd even be willing to be happy with a long lecture from Hermione if it meant contact with the outside world. He'd look at Hedwig asking her to go visit his friends, at least that way one of them could stretch out and get some air, her response was to nip his finger affectionately. Feeling somewhat better that his owl still cared for him, he was none-the-less disappointed about not hearing from anyone. He walked over to his trunk wanting to get a quill to try and organize his thoughts on paper, perhaps the start of a letter to one of his friends, assuming Hedwig could get past the wards. Opening the trunk, he was surprised to find a letter waiting for him in a familiar script. Taking a deep breath, he opened the letter and began to read. The hand to which the script belonged became instantly obvious as the letter began.

_Dear Harry, _

_This letter is charmed so that I'll be able to write to you during the summer if Ron's being a prat and won't let me borrow his owl. (After last summer when I tried to exchange letters with a friend using Erol I decided to find an alternate means of communication). So please don't throw it away yet. I'll be able to write to you in a more direct manner at a later time. _

_Ginny_

_PS – Yes I managed to smuggle this into your trunk, lets just say that Fred and George aren't the only ones who know how to circumvent school rules. _

Below that was a second letter.

_Dear Harry, _

_There's so much I want to say, I know we've never really had a chance to sit and talk about things. I wanted to thank you for what you did for me my first year, while everyone was accusing you of opening the chamber it was me, and after you learned the truth you never blamed me for my weakness, or pushed me away because I was possessed by Tom. I know you would have done it for anybody, but I still appreciate it. _

_I wanted to tell you that I had some time to get to know Sirius over the last year and I know you must be grieving. I know I am and I didn't know him half as well as you did. Please don't push your friends away right now, not just for yourself, (and don't think for a moment that I haven't noticed how you tend to distance yourself buster) but for us. I know I have a family I can go to when I'm feeling down, but you are as much a part of that family as Hermione, or any one of my prat brothers are. I also know that when they are hurting and don't want my help it hurts me and makes me feel as if I'm not good enough. Just know that if you need someone to listen to you I'm here. _

_Professor Dumbledore told all of us that we were not allowed to send you any owls over the summer, something about security risks. I think that's a load of crap, he's never had problems any other year so why now? Ron and I have tried sending you owls, first Pig came back with his letter, and when we used the postal owls they came back appearing to have made their delivery, but since you haven't replied yet I'm willing to bet someone intercepted it. We then asked to send you letters through your watchers, The four that we know have that duty are Mundungus, Snape, Dedalus and Tonks. Tonks' won't start duty till later but said she'd deliver them, the others said they were supposed to keep their distance and let you live your summer in peace. What's up with him? He spent the better part of last year ignoring you, and now he wants us to do the same? Hermione's been trying to get a hold of you through "Muggle means" but she said she hasn't had any luck either. _

_Harry, we really need to talk face to face at some point, there are things I have to tell you, and I can't just do it on paper. Mum is working to get you to come to the Burrow but the Headmaster is being difficult. If he doesn't cooperate soon I'm going to use my Bat-Bogey hex on him! _

_There is one other Charm on this paper. In case you weren't allowed to use Hedwig this summer I made the back of this paper the same as the front, except your parchment will work as the sender instead of receiver. Please don't feel like you owe it to us to write a letter, but please reply just so we know if you've been getting our mail or not. If you are and just want to be left alone we will stop, but if someone's stealing our letters before they get to you we didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you. _

I hope you don't think I'm doing this to annoy you in any way, but please Harry I'm not telling you this to make you angry, but if nothing else, don't spend your summer moping and feeling guilty. From the little I got to know Sirius he wanted you to live your life being happy, playing Quiditch, finding a way to beat Tom, and then spend the rest of it making little pronglett's for him and Moony to spoil. (His words, I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, though the little Pronglett part was kind of self explanatory).

_Your friend (I hope) _

_Ginny_

Harry finished the letter and choked back a sob, his friends hadn't forgotten about him! He let the gamut of emotions run through as he considered the ramifications of what Ginny had implicated in the letter. He thought about what he really knew about the youngest Weasley, it wasn't that much, he felt a little guilty about that. He knew her of course, but they hadn't really been that close or anything. He resolved to, if nothing else, at least get to know her a little better this year, and then added Neville and Luna to that list. Both had gone with him on the reckless adventure, and he really didn't know them that well. He felt extra guilty about Neville who could have been in his position if Voldemort had chosen differently.

After taking a deep breath to clear his thoughts, he grabbed a quill and flipped the letter over.

_Dear Ginny, _

_Let me start by thanking you for your letter, I have not received any post here at Azkaban South, so it really made my day. The charms work on it is amazing and the fact that you managed to smuggle it into my trunk makes it all the more impressive. I'm very glad to know that you all have been trying to send me letters, it was a thrill to get yours so please don't give up on me!_

_Regarding Professor Dumbledore, I've noticed he's had a hand in a lot of what has gone on in my life these past years, and I've started to take a better look at it. He failed to mention the part about my security concerns and thus I was left thinking that everyone wasn't talking to me on the account of almost getting you all killed, (not that I would blame you if you hated me for that). Speaking of the headmaster, are there any other orders he left that I should know about… if you have some way of contacting me after this charm wears off please use it, I really don't think I can trust my life to him anymore, not after what happened last year. And the fact that he's the reason I thought you all had given up on me is just adding to my frustration with him. _

_I'm glad you got to know Sirius a bit. He didn't like being locked away and forgotten (and I can understand where he's coming from), and the fact that you reached out to him means more to me than you could know. And regarding that issue, I won't lie to you and say I feel fine. It hurts, Gin. One of my happiest moments was when he asked if I wanted to move in with him during my third year, to have all that gone, I don't know how to describe it. I feel empty, like a piece of me is missing. And the worst part is it's my fault. If I had only remembered to use the mirror I would have figured out Kreacher was lying, If I had listened to Hermione I would have waited, if I had kept my head I wouldn't have charged off on a suicide mission taking my five best friends with me. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I wouldn't be worthy of such a friend. _

_If you need, or want to talk I'm always here, arranging it might be a bit difficult at the moment though. The twins might be able to swing something as they are Order members, but I don't know who my watcher is at the moment. If we have to wait until I can get to the Burrow we'll do it then. Speaking of Watchers, I look forward to seeing Tonks if that means mail, do you know when she'll be starting? _

_I know I mentioned it already, but this letter is brilliant charms work, I now understand why professor Flitwick mentioned you were the best charms student in your year. I'm going to keep some space at the bottom, so if you write me again with it I can write back._

If you could pass word to who needs it, (the usual) I'd appreciate it if you told them I was doing fine, and getting along ok. If Hermione presses, let her know what I told you, I should have known she'd try Muggle methods to contact me, but nothing has come through yet.

_You've been a much better friend than I could ever deserve already. _

_Harry James Potter. _

_PS - Quiditch and beating Tom are definite goals for my future, little pronglett's however is a whole separate issue, one I can't even bother considering while Old Moldy is still on the prowl. _

_Once again banished to Azkaban South, I remain your _

_Harry James Potter. _

He signed the letter with a flourish and set it carefully back into his trunk. With that out of the way he started on the next task, getting his life back in some kind of order.

Taking a deep breath he began to organize his thoughts, trying to figure out how he had managed to fall to this point. 'Let's see, Tommy boy kills my parents and as a little one year old Dumbledore decides to place me in the care of my aunt and uncle, and then never checks on me. I spend the next 10 years in hell being turned into a bloody house elf, actually Dobby was probably treated better by the Malfoys than I was, at least he got to use magic.'

He grabbed a new piece of parchment and dipped his quill in some ink, wishing he had thought of buying more of the self-inking quills he had gotten earlier in the year. He then proceeded to write three names at the top of his paper and separated them. Albus Dumbledore got 10 lines under his as did the Dursley's, one for each year of his hellish confinement. Riddle Also received 10 lines for that plus two more, one for each of his parents.

He continued in this fashion beginning with his first, and continuing through his fifth year at Hogwarts and the summers in between. For each incident that he could remember clearly in which he was mis-informed, lied to, injured, attacked, ignored or otherwise not treated as a human being, he added a line to the offending party's name. Tom Riddle of course had the most lines, the Ministry of Magic had the least. The surprising factor was how many lines were underneath his Headmasters.

"Either I'm going crazy, extremely paranoid, or beginning to feel very manipulated. Especially since he's obviously stealing my mail."

The comment was made to himself, for his own benefit. He had spoken to an empty and very heavily warded room, thus he received the shock of his life when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Excellent deduction Mr. Potter, I applaud your reasoning skills."

Harry spun around, pulling his right arm back while he brought his right hand up, bringing his wand into an attack position but preventing it from easily being knocked from his grasp if his opponent was right behind him. His reaction had been so fast, he never even bothered to realize that he wasn't holding his wand when he started to swing around. (Oops!)

The wand in question was pointed at an unremarkable man in nondescript, though well tailored clothing, who was sitting on his desk in a rather lazy position.

"Who the bloody hell are you? And what do you want for that matter?"

"My, Mr. Potter, what foul language, what would your Mrs. Weasley say about that?"

Harry's eyes narrowed and he snapped, "I'd have to be alive to hear her yell at me, now answer the question please, I'd rather not have a reason to break the law and kill you where you stand."

In a blink of an eye the man knocked Harry's wand out of his grasp and trained his own on him. He glared in defiance, that if he were to die he'd go out in battle. He was rather surprised when the man reholstered his wand.

"Oh do calm down Mr. Potter, rest assured if I had wanted you harmed or dead, you would be. Now, my name is of no consequence at the moment, and I work for a department of the ministry that doesn't exist. I'm here because we've had an interest in you for the last 4 years, but this was the first time we had an asset in place that afforded us an opportunity to chat." The man relaxed his posture and sat back down.

"What do the idiots at the ministry want with me?" he said waving his hand behind his back, his eyes on the gentleman in front of him, though from his blurry peripheral he could see his wand begin to slowly move across the floor.

"Please do not lump us in with the incompetent morons in the other departments. For one thing we don't report to the Minister of Magic. We are an elite group that make most of the Aurors out there look like first year students. The only Auror worth his salt at all is retired, I believe you know Alastor?"

Harry nodded, he knew Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody quite well, but he knew more than a few other Aurors. "I wouldn't say he's the only one, I know another Auror who's as clumsy as they come, but can hold her own in a fight."

"Oh yes, we are aware of her, but recruiting her is not an option for us. Now as I said we would like you to join us. You'd have to take a few oaths of silence, to prevent certain well-established parties with many titles from finding out."

His mind in overdrive, the Boy Who Lived thought of something he could use to stall the man and give him more time to think. "What's the deal if, and I stress if, I sign on with you? Mister…"

"For now you me refer to me as Mr. Blue. We all use alternate references to ourselves when we aren't at Headquarters. Now as for your benefits, we would train and teach you, pay you for any work you would perform for us, naturally we'd help you finish your last two years at Hogwarts, and perhaps get you ready for your eventual final confrontation with one Dark Lord Voldemort."

"You can say his name!"

"Most of our department can, we are well aware of who he really is, and his background."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean eventual final confrontation?"

Mr. Blue fixed him with a stare of his own. "Don't think us stupid Mr. Potter, we've been studying those prophecies for years, of course I know what's on yours."

Harry breathed, another lie the old man had told him. "My apologies, just adding to the lists of falsehoods, and mis-information I've received from our mutual friend. I had wanted to be an Auror, or maybe go into quiditch, what would be my commitment to you for this?"

"I will admit to you Mr. Potter, that should you join us, I doubt seriously if you'd still have any desire to go into the Ministry's Auror program. Though with your history with the Ministry can you honestly see yourself working for them? As for quiditch, we have different types of jobs, I'm sure we could find one that would accommodate you should you wish to pursue an alternate career."

"How can you tell me all this so easily if I'd need an oath of silence to be a part of you?"

"Simple, if you refuse I wipe your memory, oh don't look at me like that, that's standard practice for a failed recruiting job." He said as he again drew his wand.

It was now or never, he twisted his wrist and with a burst of desperate magic he summoned his wand to his hand and snapped it up at the man. "No one is touching my memories or messing with my mind. Ever. Again."

Mr. Blue was more than a little surprised at what he had just witnessed. A fifteen, soon to be sixteen year-old performing that level of wandless magic was just a bit intimidating. He had written off the first occurrence as accidental magic, but for it to happen twice, Young Mr. Potter had more power available than their reports had led him to believe; and the report listed him as quite powerful to begin with. He knew that Professor had been looking for an operative skilled in Wandless Magic, and it looked like young Mr. Potter might fit that bill nicely.

"Well I see you aren't quite ready to decide yet. Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you Mr. Potter. Give my offer some thought; should you decide to get involved with us I think you'll find the results very satisfying. Should you decide to not trust us and throw your odds with your Headmaster I will ask for your Wizard Oath to not reveal anything we said and let it go without the memory Charm will that suffice?"

"I find your terms very reasonable Mr. Blue. Is there anything else you'd like to share with me?"

"I'll give you some food for thought, just so you know I wasn't lying when I said we were keeping an eye on our mutual friend. I have another student operative in place, I won't give you there identity because I wouldn't want you to inadvertently burn them. Nor will they know about you, should you decide to join us."

"Does this operative report back on me as well Mr. Blue?"

Croaker (Also known as Mr. Blue) weighed his options, if he said yes, than Mr. Potter might let his temper get the better of him. If he lied and said no, he'd be no better than the manipulative headmaster that Potter was currently fuming at.

"The operative does Mr. Potter, they report back on a number of students, yourself included, as I told you before we've wanted to approach you for a number of years."

Harry decided to ignore the fact that they had been spying on him, and instead pressed for more information. "Who else does your operative report back on Mr. Blue?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter that question tinges on operational security, if I were to give you that information you might be able to piece back who the operative is, and by treating them differently you might give certain other interested parties a clue that something is off. To perhaps put your mind at ease, I will tell you that they don't feel comfortable reporting on their friends, and you particularly. They are working on my orders and I won't lie and tell you it's for your own, or the greater good, they do so because they owe us something and I called on that favor."

Mr. Blue held up a book. "A peace offering perhaps Mr. Potter, I think you'll find the contents of this book quite interesting and I'd suggest you read it tonight."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Why tonight?"

The man replied evenly, "Why not?"

Harry Snorted; this was starting to sound like one of the old man's conversations.

Mr. Blue waved his hand. "Sorry I couldn't resist the chance, all I can tell you is we've heard reports of a group of Death Eaters tasked to assault you, I don't know when, but from what we learned it's likely to be sooner rather than later, will that suffice?"

Though he wasn't happy with the answer he respected the openness from the man in front of him, even the admission of Operational Security made sense to him, instead of Dumbledore's you don't know this it's for your own good. Instead this man explained his reasoning and Harry could respect that. "I'm not saying yes I'll join you, but I will take up your offer on letting me think it over. How will I get in touch with you?"

"I will return for your answer by the end of the week. If trouble happens to find you before then, do what you need to do to survive, we will take care of the rest. Should you be willing to take my advice, just come, just check it out. Good day."

He vanished into the air. Harry gasped and jumped back, knocking over his chair and falling onto the floor. "Bloody hell! Right through the sodding apparation and port-key wards on my room, how did he do that!" he asked to the air as he began to pick up the chair and set it back to his desk.

"Boy! What's with all that bloody racket! If you're doing any of your freakish ways I'll skin you where you stand!"

"I'm sorry Uncle Vernon, I just fell and was cursing." To most people admitting to cursing would be a bad thing, but for Harry, it beat telling the truth, which would have earned him a beating, or worse.

"Well fine, we are going on a trip tomorrow. Dudley is getting some special treats for doing so well boxing at Smeltings so we are going to celebrate. Normally we'd leave a freakish runt like you with Mrs. Figg, but she's going to be out of town, and I don't trust you at home either." He grabbed Harry by the arm and wrenched him until they were face to face. "And no freakish happenings tomorrow Boy, or threat or no threat I will make you wish you died with your parents." He threw Harry back to his bed and walked out of the room.

The 15 year old sighed, and began picking his oversized clothes for the next day. When he had finished packing he picked up an advanced hex and curse book, and began reading about some new hexes. The exploding curse seemed straight forward enough, and he quickly memorized the incantation, Explodora, and the wand movement. He then turned his attention to the book Mr. Blue had left behind. 'Study notes of hex and curse modification Volume 1, by Operative Flame.'

He opened the cover and read the first few entries in the long contents. "Reflective charm/hex addition: reflectus (grade 3), Controllable modifier to Reductor and Explodora hexes: exeqourus (grade 1), Extreme High speed addition to banishing charm: (modified incantation) Pulsum Valde (grade 4)" If there were more things like this to learn, he would have to talk to Mr. Blue once more.

"This looks interesting" he said to Hedwig, the only other occupant of the room

…

Morning came, and found the Boy Who Lived preparing breakfast. He had gotten quite good at it over the years, and despite not enjoying the fact he was still being treated much as a house elf, he took a quiet pride in his work.

Everything finished and hit the table about the same time that the Dursleys made their appearance. Harry grabbed a piece of toast and left the room. Some days they made him wait for them, but if it was going to be a special day for his cousin than he expected verbal abuse at the table, and he honestly didn't feel like getting it this morning.

About an hour later after he had finished washing all the dishes, he hid his wand up his sleeve and followed his cousin to the car.

"Remember boy, any freakish business and you'll wish you died with your parents!"

"Yes Uncle Vernon," came the polite reply.

The day was filled with shopping for Dudley, and observation for Harry, as he wasn't allowed to touch or buy anything. Harry had avoided the wrath of his cousin simply by staying away from the family, close enough not to get yelled at for wandering off, far enough so that they could pretend he wasn't with them.

They had just finished shopping around and he was looking forward to getting back to the Dursleys, at least he could continue reading his books in secret that way. Dudley had wanted (and received) a new set of weights to train with, and his Aunt had purchased a large marble slab for her kitchen. Harry wondered why in the world she'd need it since he did most of the cooking and he wasn't allowed to touch it. At least that meant that Dudley was carrying it into the house. Harry, upon the return, was put to task washing the car, after todays use it may have gotten dirt on it.

A soft popping sound drew his attention and he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, thinking rapidly. he hadn't told anyone from the Order where he was going (as he didn't know) nor were they anywhere so he was fairly positive he wouldn't run into any trouble of the wizarding kind. Not that it had stopped him from stuffing his wand up his sleeve, something Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody would have been proud of.

As the pops he had heard revealed themselves to be Death Eaters, he realized just what a good decision that had been.

"Come out widdle Baby Potter, the Dark lord would like to have a few words with you."

In a flash, the-Boy Who Lived had his wand out and started casting. He nailed one of the death eaters with a Stupefy, taking him out of the fight. He glanced around taking a quick inventory of possible cover right before everything dissolved into chaos. 'Got to find a way to get away' he thought to himself. Ignoring the fact that at the first sign of trouble his Uncle Vernon had grabbed his aunt and cousin and ran back into the store.

"Stupefy!" Three at once, the red light of the curses casting strange shadows all around.

"Protego!" He yelled, the shield stopping two of the curses and then dove out of the way of the last one.

"Reducto" he snarled the bludgeoning curse nailing another one of the five throwing him up and out of the fight.

Bellatrix suddenly stood up and whipped her wand around "Crucio!"

Desperately he summoned his Aunt's new Marble slab which took the curse and promptly shattered. Seizing the opportunity he cast the modified high speed banishing hex he had gotten from the book on the remains of the marble slab and sent the shrapnel into the arm of another Death Eater, who screamed and collapsed in pain.

Suddenly three Aurors, alerted by violation of the restriction for use of under age magic Apparated in, and the remaining two death eaters grabbed their fallen members and Apparated out.

"Harry Potter, you are under arrest for violating the laws of under-age magic usage." And saying that the lead Auror grabbed his wand and slapped a pair of anti-magic bindings around his wrists.


	2. Chapter 2

Boring Disclaimer: Harry Potter and company are copyright J.K Rowling and her publishers. Several other character references are borrowed from Rorschach's Blot

Once Again: Thanks to my wonderful Beta KDTheRavenclaw and also the entire (and still somewhat insane) group on Rorsch's Yahoo group. Also special thanks to my pre-beta Cassie P.

**Chapter 2 For What it's Worth**

It did not take long for news of Harry's predicament to travel to the Order of the Phoenix. Kingsley Shacklebolt was on duty when the warrant came down and immediately apparated to Order Headquarters. Fifteen minutes later the majority of the members were assembled and waiting to here what the emergency was.

"I know we aren't in full attendance yet, but this cannot wait, please everyone take a seat and we'll get started!" called the headmaster over the quiet talking going on.

The volume quickly dropped and the meeting began. "This morning Harry Potter was arrested by the Ministry of Magic for breaking the rules of underage magic restrictions. I'm afraid Cornelius is going to try and make an example of young Harry."

"Albus he wouldn't dare would he? I mean Harry's just been proven right about the return of you-know-who hasn't he?"

"Yes Molly he has, but Cornelius is going to try and discredit him, and then keep him from talking to the press. Here's what we know for sure, Kingsley?"

The Auror stood up and began his report. "Roughly twenty minutes ago we received notification from the Improper Use of Magic Office of a large magical discharge in Muggle London, a few moments later they added that the wand registering the magic belonged to one Harry James Potter. About the same time the information came in, Minister Fudge came bursting into Amelia's office and informed her that she was sending a squad of Aurors to apprehend Mr. Potter before he could do anymore damage. I don't know all the details, but I do know that at least one of the three who left were his own cronies, and I wouldn't be shocked to find all three were on his personal payroll. They returned a minute later and escorted Harry to a holding cell. Albus, I believe that Fudge means to push the hearing through before you can interfere."

"Thank you Kingsley. What is the most likely outcome of a hearing at this point?"

"Assuming he railroads it through? Mr. Potter will be found guilty enough to face trial, and then will be kept in a ministry controlled facility until his trial date, his wand will be confiscated as evidence until the actual trial. In short he will be little better than a prisoner albeit with full visitor rights; if he's found innocent after the trial he will receive some sort of monetary compensation for his time."

The information was absorbed by those order members present and to most of them it was not an accepted idea.

"Albus you have to intervene, Harry's just been through a traumatic experience, if you leave him to his fate at this point the poor dear may end up with some horrid mental scars."

"Oh Molly, don't coddle the brat so much. Potter knew when he used his wand in Muggle London he was accepting responsibility for his actions, typical of a Potter, all swagger and arrogance, and nothing to back it up except landing in trouble."

Snape's words put a fire underneath several of the other members present, and the shouting match that resulted took several minutes before those involved finally calmed down enough to glare at each other –or rather for seven people to glare at Snape.

With calm once again restored to the Order, Albus cleared his throat and spoke again. "I'm afraid, Molly, that right now we have no choice but to allow this to happen. With all that transpired last year at Hogwarts I find myself on unstable ground and lacking some of the political clout I would need to circumvent this."

Before he could speak, a Weasley interrupted him what surprised everyone was that it was not Molly, but Arthur who spoke. "Albus, you've always spoken of doing what's right versus doing what's easy. The right thing to do would be to stand by Harry's side and fight these accusations to try and prevent a full trial. The right thing to do would be to start playing hardball against Fudge. I don't think I could face my children if I didn't do something for him, and if you won't than I will!"

Dumbledore for his part attempted to diffuse the situation. "Now Arthur, you make things out to be far worse than they truly are. The evidence that Harry performed magic breaking several of our laws is beyond reproach, what we must do is gather the evidence we need to prove at his trial that it was justified. After all we have the word of a 15 year old against the word of the Minister of Magic, and don't think that Cornelius won't use that time to try and manufacture extra charges for him."

The head of the Weasley clan shook his head again. "Perhaps you are right about preparing evidence for a trial Albus, but you forget that Harry is a person, and people don't just freely wish to go to prison." With that Arthur Weasley followed by Molly, Fred, George and Bill (the only other Weasleys in attendance at the time) stormed to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder. With a call, "The Burrow," in a flash of fire they were gone.

In the stunned Silence, Albus Dumbledore sighed. That had not gone as well as he had planned. "I suppose for now we have nothing more to discuss of this matter. Please start looking into how we can help Harry at his trial, as soon as a date is set. Severus, Kingsley if you two could stay back a moment."

When the rest of the Order had cleared out Albus turned and faced the two men. "I don't want it widely known by the rest of the Order, but right now Harry is standing on dangerous ground. After his last battle with the Death Eaters I'm afraid he might be working too far into the Dark Arts to come out clean."

Kingsley gasped. "Albus, surely you can't mean that the boy's going to go Dark, I've never met an individual with a purer heart."

Snape gagged, "I believe it, that little brat's as arrogant and insufferable as his father, for him to be arrested might be a blessing in disguise, give the little prick some time without his magic to realize what precipice he's hanging over. The last thing I want to face is another dark lord."

Albus nodded. "That was my intention, I'd of course visit and keep an eye on him, to help him back to the path of light that he may have turned from."

Kingsley shook his head. "I don't agree with this Albus, but if you're right we could be exchanging one Dark Lord for the next, and I'm not willing to do that to the Wizarding community. What can I do to help?"

Albus smiled; despite the apparent split with the Weasleys, things were looking up.

…

As the port key re-appeared in the Ministry Atrium, one of the Aurors grabbed Harry's arm, picking him up off the ground from where he had fallen. He was escorted to a small empty room with a chair and little else. He sat quietly for what he guessed was two hours when a team of Aurors came to pick him up.

The lead Auror gestured for him to stand up, while the other two stood back with their hands on their wands.

"This way Potter, your hearing will be in courtroom C."

"Hearing? Its today? Don't I usually get a week before the hearing?"

"Silence! Yes boy, the Minister wanted to get this over with as soon as he heard about it."

"What about my defense?"

"What defense, this is just the initial hearing, you don't get a defense until the trial, that's in August."

"Trial! I haven't even finished with my hearing, how could they have already set a trial date?"

Instead of answering, they led Harry into the courtroom and forced him into the witness seat. He was really starting to get irritated with Fudge, and mentally added more lines under the Ministry of Magic.

"Harry James Potter, you are here by order of the Ministry of Magic for a hearing regarding your disregard for the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, as well as violations of the International Code of Secrecy. What do you have to say for yourself." Harry would have recognized that stuffy voice anywhere.

"Percy? What is going on?"

"Answer the question Mr. Potter, or we will have no choice but to press charges against you, and file for a trial date."

"I was on an outing with my" he choked on the words "family when Death Eaters attacked us, I used several offensive and defensive spells for a few minutes before they left and the Aurors arrived."

"I see are there any witnesses to this event?"

"My Aunt, Uncle and cousin, and possibly some people who were out on the street at the time."

"All Muggles, who's testimony has no bearing on this subject, do you have any real witnesses?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange, assuming you could get her to testify, as she was leading the attack."

Percy snorted. "I'm afraid that may prove impossible, therefore by order of the Minister of Magic, I order you Harry James Potter held under ministry confinement until your trial, set at a later date. Aurors please take him away."

"Percy! I can't believe this! Look at the damage to the area are you saying I did all of that!"

"The only damage we could find, Mister Potter, was from a Reducto and a banishment charm, both of which show their origination from your own wand."

Harry was grabbed by his arms and dragged out of the courtroom. He could hear Percy saying to the reporters as he was pulled out the door, "Yes, Minister Fudge realizes that the boy has been under some strain seeing you-know-who after all, but what he did today was atrocious! We had Ministry Obliviators working for two solid hours to take care of all the muggle witnesses, not a one of which mentioned anything about death eaters. And the only person with a wand when the Aurors showed up was Mr. Potter."

…

"Well Basil, do we step in now?"

"Not yet Jonathan, where is Mr. Grey?"

"The Ghost? He's down in the situation room prepping his gear, I don't know if he's heard the news yet or not."

The sound of a massive explosion coming from said situation rather answered that question for the two men.

"I suppose that we should talk to him before he does something rash, the last thing we need is to be covering up the murders of some questionable Aurors."

"We could let him have a go at Fudge though, it'd take care of quite a few problems don't you think?"

Basil laughed. "That it might Mr. Clark, however we'd rather bring him down than take him down. You've been hanging around your other boss Croaker again haven't you?"

"Speaking of which Bas, did you hear his report about our new subject? The Professor's beside himself already designing new gear just for the lad."

The two men made their way to the Situation room as they discussed the prospects of their new recruit.

There was a tall thin man waiting for them there, already in the combat robes of the Tactical Operations division. "Hello Basil, I wanted to apologize for the remarks on the WWN, and for my outburst. I can't believe what I'm hearing from his mouth. It's little better than what subject Beta told me." He was agitated, more than the Wizard Wireless broadcast should have made him, regardless of the spokesperson.

Basil waved him off, "It's fine, we don't have need for either Mr. Grey or the Ghost yet. Right now we want to see how the lad handles himself. If it looks like there's going to be a serious problem we'll step in, but he knows you and I don't want that to happen yet, Croaker already agreed to forgo the memory charm in lieu of a wizard's oath. Now calm down, you are far too agitated for just the broadcast."

"It's subject Beta, we exchanged some words earlier, I believe that he might be pulling strings to make our current recruit be more pliable. If he goes into prison… wait. Do you know where they're planning to send him?"

"Don't worry Mr. Grey, I've already got Operatives Thunder and Shadow prepped to step in if it becomes a problem. As to where they were planning to send him, I'll state it this way; Fudge wanted him out of the way. Permanently."

Basil shook his head, "I honestly didn't think Fudge would have had the stones to pull this one, if the press had gotten word of it his career would be ruined, of course if he didn't do something about Potter, it would also have been ruined. Now, are you going to change into something more comfortable while we observe the new recruits abilities?"

The third man shook his head and remained in his combat gear. He owed the poor lad a life debt as it was, and orders or no if Harry Potter was in real trouble, Hell would freeze over before he abandoned him.

…

Hermione Granger wasn't your average student aged witch. Her best friend and near brother always referred to her as the smartest-witch-in-the-school and she tried her best to live up to his expectations. There were few people in the world she respected and loved as much as him and she knew that his feelings were the same.

So the thought that he was suffering emotionally was ripping her own heart out, and the fact that she was forbidden to send him any owls wasn't helping the situation. The arrival of a small and very hyper owl broke her from her thoughts. She quickly removed the parchment attached to his leg and glanced at the handwriting, She was hoping for mail from the Burrow, but not necessarily from this Weasley. She read over the letter she had received from Ginny and frowned. Though she was something of a firecracker, her best female friend was usually quiet and reserved in her writing, so the forward attitude of the letter was a bit of a surprise.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I'm sure by now you've tried to get in contact with Harry and failed. I know that the first two owls Ron tried to send all returned with their letters. The next time we both used postal owls and they came back having apparently delivered their mail. That's happened twice too, there was no word back from Harry. Finally I used a charmed letter I had given him and he replied to that. There's something happening here, and it's not exactly clear. One thing I'm sure of is that those postal owls had their letters intercepted by someone. I know the headmaster instructed us not to send letters to Harry, but the owls should have been able to reach him just the same, and if he's intercepting the mail he's breaking some kind of law isn't he?_

_Oh speaking of the charmed letter, one thing I noticed from his reply is that he is hurting. He wanted me to tell everyone he was doing fine, but we both know what that means._

_From the last letter you gave me I know that he seems to be cut off from all forms of contact, but please don't give up. He and I, while friends, aren't that close as you two are, and I know to just hear your voice would do him good. I've already told him what would happen if he tried to push any of us away so if you can get through to him I think he'll listen to you._

_What the heck is going on with Dumbledore? Harry didn't give too many details, but I could tell from the way he was writing that something is up between him and the headmaster. Have you heard anything?_

_GMW_

Hermione frowned as she read the letter. Her last letter to Ginny that she had sent the day before mentioned that she had been trying to phone Harry's house and every time she tried she got a disconnected message. With no access to an owl outside of school she was limited to muggle means of communication. She had tried mail (muggle mail), and numerous phone calls, not a single one connected. She read the letter again, remembering how Headmaster Dumbledore had told them that their friend was grieving and they were not to send him any owls so that he could have some time in peace. They all objected but didn't say anything, rather just waited for their chance and ignored his instructions. She hadn't an owl but settled for phoning her friend; the only problem was that every means of communication that they tried had failed. Ron had mentioned to her in yesterdays letter that he tried to contact Harry through one of the Order members who were minding Harry, but they had said they were not to approach him and couldn't take it.

She puffed air through her pursed lips in frustration and quickly jotted a reply to Ginny.

_Ginny,_

_I'm still not sure what's going on between the two. Harry and Professor Dumbledore used to be so close you might have guessed that Harry was his grandson, but after last year it looks like there's a major rift between the two._

_Still no luck with the telephone, I'm going to try to talk my parents into paying a visit but I don't know how well it will go._

_I did some light reading on the subject you asked me about, there are twenty-two separate laws in the Wizarding world dealing with interference of mail, and postal owls. There are also laws in the Muggle world, whoever is intercepting Harry's mail is definitely working outside the law._

_I'm sorry that this letter is so short, I've been working on some potions and I can't take but a few minutes to write this. As it's the only magic I can get away with using this summer, I'm going to be prepared for Professor Snape when I enter his NEWT potion's class._

_I promise my next letter will be such instead of a few notes, until I hear from you I remain your,_

_Hermione Jane Granger_

She sent Pig on his way and then saw another owl heading towards her house even as Ron's diminutive familiar was disappearing.

She gave her potion a stir and squinted, trying to see if she recognized the owl at a distance. Realizing it was Errol she felt her heart begin to beat rapidly. Ron would have waited for Pigwidgeon to return, so something must be wrong.

As she read Ginny's nearly unreadable fast scrawl she felt her heart collapse. The news was worse than she had imagined. She was so focused on the information the page of parchment contained, she didn't even notice as her potion went bad from neglect.

…

"Well Mister Potter, I'm sure no one told you, but for your own protection you'll be spending the next two months at Azkaban, as that was the safest place we could think of."

With that statement Harry's blood went ice cold. "You can't be serious, you're going to throw an innocent man who's awaiting his trial to Azkaban?"

The Auror leered at him, "Why yes Mister Potter, the Minister sends his regards and hopes you don't go insane from your time there."

Harry let himself be led from the courtroom to the transportation chamber, he didn't know if they would Apparate him, or use a port-key, but there was one thing he knew for sure, if he went to Azkaban he'd never return. The words of the man he had met the night before echoed in his mind, If trouble happens to find you before then, do what you need to do to survive, we will take care of the rest.'

Well time to find out if he was right or not.' He thought to himself as he tensed his muscles for the right moment.

It was not long in coming.

As they approached a door Harry let himself stumble. When one of his two escorts moved to catch him, he lashed out with his manacles, catching the first guard neatly on the temple and dropping him like a sack of stones. Harry grabbed for his wand and was just pulling it out when the second guard, alerted by the fate of his compatriot, jumped back with his wand and sent a stunner at Harry.

Dropping the wand, he dove at the man underneath the path of the spell and by pure chance caught him in a perfect spear tackle, bringing them both down in a heap. The Auror quickly caught his breath and shoved Harry back into the wall. He hit it hard enough to make his teeth rattle and bounced forward, where the Auror, having dropped his wand in the earlier contact and perhaps wanting some sort of revenge, punched him, or at least tried to.

Harry instinctively brought his hands up to protect his face and the Auror's fist smashed into the anti-magic manacles that held his hands together. He roared in pain, and with no other course of action Harry kicked him. Squarely between the legs. As hard as he could.

The Auror dropped like a sack of potatoes, and Harry searched the first one for the key to his manacles. Finding it, he freed his hands and grabbed the two fallen wands. He tested the first one and it sent a slight shower of sparks. At least partially compatible' he thought to himself and tried the other wand.

The second wand blew the hinges off the door he was facing. He tensed, expecting a rush of Aurors, but nothing happened. He cautiously looked into the room and saw three Aurors laid out on the ground – all apparent victims of being smashed by the remains of the door. He grabbed the wand that worked and stunned all five of the Aurors, took the incompatible wand, and slid it in his pants pocket. He then checked the other three Aurors for their wands and, finding another one that was compatible, kept it. After a moment's hesitation, he took the other two as well. If nothing else, the incompatible wands were great for opening doors.

…

The three men who were now observing his progress on a charmed screen all sat back, stunned.

"That's the most creative use for an incompatible wand I've ever seen!"

"The lad certainly has luck to go with that talent, had those three Aurors not been so close together he'd never have gotten himself out of that situation."

"I think we should go ahead and step in, I think Mr. Potter could wind up in bigger trouble if he takes a wrong turn now… Oh bloody hell."

…

The aforementioned Mr. Potter had just found his way to the break room used by the Aurors who were assigned to handle the Ministry Trial Hearings. As most of them were off duty they were rather relaxed.

Harry had been trying to be as stealthy as he could and when he realized where he was he began to back up quickly and quietly.

Fate decided she had already played nice once, this time he was on his own.

He backed out of the door and collided with a Ministry flunky whose only job was to take coffee to his superiors and smile when they told him how stupid someone else was.

Harry managed to stay on his feet, but the intern fell to the floor and yelped, drawing the attention of the seven Aurors in the room. He grabbed the intern and spun around, letting him take all seven stupefy curses that made their mark on the spot he had just vacated.

Harry grabbed the first door-removing-incompatible-wand and waved it at the Aurors. It gave a belch and let off a puff of smoke. In his desperation to repeat his earlier feat he had channeled too much of his magical energy into the wand and shorted it out. Feeling stupid he took the wand and threw it at one of the Aurors.

To his immense amusement the sight of a thrown wand made the man dive for cover as if avoiding a killing curse. The grin on his lips died a second later when he ducked a barrage of binding and stunning spells. He grabbed the two working wands and began throwing spells back when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck go up.

Driven more by instinct than conscious thought, he threw himself to the side just in time to avoid the stupefy that had been fired at his back by two more opponents joining the fray.

This is getting ridiculous' he thought to himself, now surrounded and grossly outnumbered. He was now using one of his more compatible stolen wands to continuously cast Protego, the other one was alternating between Protego, Stupefy, Expelliarmus and Incarcerous. Had he been paying attention he would have been pleased to find that he, a barely trained soon to be sixth year, had managed to take down 4 battle trained Aurors. Still, he was outnumbered, so the remaining Aurors managed to finally take him down with multiple stunners.

…

"Well the little brat finally went down. Rather surprising that he held out so well," remarked one of the Aurors to the two Unspeakables.

"You're quite right, in fact, Mister Potter has garnered the attention of those who are a far better caliber of man than the ball of lard you serve."

"Huh?" was the witty reply of the Auror.

The Unspeakable sighed. "You know, if not for Alastor Moody and his few protégés, I'd say that the Aurors were little more than less lethal versions of the Death Eaters, both serving their master with no thought."

"Hey you can't!"

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" The Auror's reply was cut off as he and his two companions joined their compatriots passed out on the floor.

"Bloody Hell! Couldn't you have been more subtle?"

"I don't do subtle; it's not like they'll remember this anyway. Now give me a hand Obliviating their memories."

The two set to work, carefully removing the memories of the Aurors, moving them into the room and putting them in chairs.

As for the Boy Who Lived, they relieved him of his "borrowed" wands and levitated him, heading towards Level Nine. Upon reaching it they entered the rotating chamber and passed their wands towards the center. A hidden series of Runes lit up and a lift appeared in the center. They stepped on with their passenger.

"Level 12," called out the first one before turning to his partner, "I thought we should let medical see to his needs before he meets with the boss."

His partner nodded and the lift disappeared into the floor, leaving no trace it had ever been there.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Who are You?

Harry slowly fought his way back to consciousness. His head was pounding and his throat felt dry as a desert, but despite this he was as happy as he had ever been. At least I don't feel the freezing effects that Dementors have on the environment, which means I'm obviously not at Azkaban yet. If that's the case there's still another chance to escape.' His thought process stopped when the man beside his bed spoke.

"You know son, when I said to do what you had to do, I was hoping you would not get involved in a battle with seven Aurors, even if you got the drop on them."

"Why Mr. Blue, I don't think I've ever been happier to hear the voice of a meddling old man in my life." He replied honestly, if he was with Mr. Blue than odds were that he was, at least for the time being, safe.

"Old! Kid, I'll have you know that I still make Albus Dumbledore look like a geezer."

"And I make you look like Albus Dumbledore," came the cheeky reply.

"Wise arse. What do you remember?" he asked, getting serious.

"Seven Aurors, lots of spells, two from behind, I don't remember how many I got, but I got lucky and took two of them down early on. I do hope that poor aide is ok, he took a lot of spells when I used him as a shield."

Mr. Blue chuckled. "That he did. Well, there are a couple of people who want to meet you, but we thought you could use a familiar face when you woke up."

Harry grimaced. "You could have used my fellow student who's spying on me if you wanted to give me a familiar face. By the way, how long was I out for?"

The Unspeakable grimaced. "Opsec son, you know that, after all didn't your little army group have special safeguards in place? To answer your question, just over 20 minutes."

The Boy Who Lived gaped. "I was hit with 3 stunning spells, what do you mean 20 minutes? Unless I was enervated I should have been down at least an hour"

"Well first off, one of our people had a mild shielding charm on you. The two that came up from behind you are ours by the way. Secondly, you've got a huge magical reserve, and I mean huge. The wandless magic you showed the night we met was proof of that. In the past, do you think you could have gone up against seven adult opponents, or even four adult opponents, and won? Because I'll tell you this, there are four Aurors who lost to you in that madness. That's not counting the two you beat without magic, and one of those Aurors is not going to be able to do anything with his wife for a few days."

"Speaking of madness, what's going on? And where am I for that matter, this doesn't look like the Department of Mysteries that I saw on Level nine."

"Well perhaps it would be best if I introduced you to my boss. He's been wanting to meet you for a while. Can you stand?"

Harry pushed himself up and slid off the bed. He gave the place a good look around and took it all in. He was obviously in some kind of medical center. It even had the same smells as Hogwarts' Hospital wing. He was led to the lift that had brought him in and stepped in next to Mr. Blue.

"Level S," Mr. Blue said, and the lift descended quite rapidly. Several moments later the lift slowed to a stop and the two stepped out into a small atrium. Harry quietly took in his surroundings. He could feel a buzz from the amount of magic in the walls.

"What is that?" he asked.

"What is what?"

"That buzzing, don't you feel it?"

Mr. Blue looked confused for a moment and then smiled. "Oh you mean the wards. Well, I could lie and say you get used to it after a while, but I'll tell you honestly that I'm not in-tune enough with my magic to feel it. However, it does make perfect sense that you would."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll let someone else explain it, Mr. Potter, please. This is not my area of expertise. I'm operations, not a research specialist."

Harry nodded and followed Mr. Blue through a heavily warded set of doors into a very nicely built room. It had a warm and comforting feeling about it, partially from the rich wood paneling, but most likely from the calming charms placed in said wood paneling. He was so busy taking in his surroundings he didn't notice Mr. Blue standing up to welcome someone walking in.

"So this is the one marked by the dark lord as his equal, the one who was born as the seventh month died. I had expected him to be a little taller." The voice was friendly, not challenging, not hostile, and open with a touch of humor at the last bit.

Harry spun around to face the older man who smiled and waved him to a chair.

"Well Mr. Potter, we seem to be in a predicament. We don't want to force you into cooperation with our department, but at the same time you don't seem to have any options but to ask us for our assistance."

"I was doing fine for a little while there."

"Yes until you were taken down by three Aurors. I'll tell you what, you can go sleep at home tonight if you want. You can get up and walk away. I won't stop you; I'll even help you get out of the ministry building without getting caught. Then what will you do?"

Harry didn't say a word. The man had a point, but he wasn't just going to let him win that easily. His face remained expressionless as the exchange continued.

"Please Mr. Potter, surely you have some idea of what you can do."

"I can disappear into Muggle England. The magical community knows little about being a muggle, and while I didn't have the most productive learning environment, I assure you I can fade into life as a muggle." He replied at length, his face still impassive.

"Yes you could, and that would be the biggest waste of talent since your father refused to play Quidditch for England. Did you know your mother worked for us? Something else that was kept from you then. Wait…" he held up his hand, keeping Harry from replying. "Regardless of your decision to join us or not you'll have full access to your mother's files – as long as they aren't classified materials, I play fair and I want your talent, but I refuse to bribe or blackmail you into it. If it's not your decision it's not worth a snake's arse."

Still no reaction from the Boy Who Lived. Basil frowned the lad had more innate and natural magical talent than anyone he had ever met, or researched, with the possible exception of some of the legends of magic. While he wanted him for his ability, he wouldn't sink to the level of his rivals or enemies.

Almost as if reading his mind, Harry Potter smiled. "I appreciate that, and I am intrigued by your offer. If this were to happen in other situations, Tommy would offer me a chance to serve him or die, or turn me in to the ministry and then try to kill me. Dumbledore would tell me he would only be able to give me that information, or protect me from the ministry if I were to join him. Heck, he probably wouldn't have let it slip then. Thus far you have been fair and honest with me, and I'd like to see what you have to offer and how I can fit into it."

Basil smiled, really smiled; his own boss would be ecstatic. Well, as close to it as she ever got.

"I'm not making any promises about our ability to protect you, but do you have any questions?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry, in my excitement and haste I let my manners slip. Basil Charleston, refer to me as Basil if you would please, everyone does here. The only time I ever hear my last name is when I'm in trouble with my boss. Anyway, I'm in charge of the British division of the International Bureau of Unspeakables, InterBUn for those in the know, which really is quite few. My main duties are playing liaison to the pillocks in this Ministry while running my department in an effective manner. The Unspeakables known to the Ministry of Magic are the Research and Development division; you'll meet them later."

Harry was taken aback for a brief moment, "You mean I'm talking to the top man in Britain?"

"Well I don't usually play a role in recruitment, but this is the first opportunity I've had to offer you a job and we've wanted to since your first year at Hogwarts. Even young lads and lasses have their uses."

"Like the one who's been spying on me?" he asked evenly, still trying to figure out that mystery.

"Yes like that person, though to be fair they aren't the only person we have keeping tabs on you, are they?"

At his words two people entered the room wearing standard Unspeakable field gear, which was almost muggle in it's appearance with the exception of the blue cloak, which also had concealment charms hiding their faces.

"Before I let these two individuals drop their cover for you Mr. Potter I need to know if you are going to be with us or not. I need to get you trained in occlumancy before their identities are revealed. And I mean real occlumancy, not that claptrap drivel your dumb-as-a-sodding- black beetle tried to force you to learn and used to attack your mind."

Harry sat back in his chair and went through everything he had learned in the last 48 hours. "How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won't be manipulating my life like the headmaster has? Why do you want me, and what assurances do I have that you'll fulfill your end of the bargain?"

Basil leaned back on his chair. He knew this would be the breaking point of this new potential recruit, there was only one route to go – complete honesty. "If I may answer those, not in order, it will be easier on me."

He waited for a nod before continuing. "First, why we want you. Not just for what the prophecy states, but you have talent. Real deal rarer-than-once-in-a-lifetime talent. You are already beyond the level of what Tom Riddle was when he left Hogwarts two years older than you are now, and he delved into dark rituals. You have not done that, just grown from your continuous experiences. We first began observing you after your first year, after you managed to fight the undead spirit of Voldemort; something that a trained defense against the dark arts professor wasn't able to do. Recently we've noticed you have an aptitude for wandless magic, do you understand how rare that is?"

Harry shook his head, and Basil continued, "The last wandless magic expert is my boss, and there hasn't been another in over 600 years. Dumbledore has some minor talent with it, Voldemort gained a little bit through dark rituals, but twice in 10 minutes you summoned your wand when it was away from you, with no noticeable drain on your magic. Neither of them can make that claim. Our head of R&D is practically foaming at the mouth to meet you. You've managed to lead a team of five other students into known enemy held territory and, while not unscathed, all five lived through the experience."

Harry interrupted here, "And it cost my godfather his life! Because I wasn't careful enough. Because I didn't use all my resources! He's dead, gone, I'll never see him again, and it's my fault, I as good as murdered him."

Basil let the tide of emotion run its course, showing no emotion on his face. Inwardly he was shocked, the amount of magical energy the lad was throwing off while he was upset was quite unsettling and both of the two operatives took the opportunity to vacate the room as it washed over them. "Yes, you did, you took a gamble and wanted to go off by yourself, you were willing to trade your life for his in the first place. Loyalty and bravery like that is a rare commodity. I've buried several good men because of decisions I've made. I made them based off information I had at the time and they knew the risks going into the mission. Does that make me a murderer?"

Harry looked up with unshed tears in his eyes and shook his head no. Basil saw this and felt almost fatherly affection for the lad, even though his own children were grown and off with their own careers. "Look Mr. Potter… Harry, had you have received any kind of real Occlumency training, the vision you were given would have been revealed as false. You made the best decision with the information that you had. Honor his memory with your life, and live with the pride of knowing him."

Harry nodded uncertainly but with more of a smile on his face than before.

"Sorry about that," he started to say but was waved off.

"Entirely understandable Mr. Potter. I presume I've waxed on about how much talent you have which should explain why we want you?" He received the nod he was waiting for. "Then to continue with your other questions. As far as fulfilling our ends of the bargain, quite simply we want you. Our part of the bargain is to train you up give you the knowledge you need, help train your physical abilities so you have the speed, strength, and most importantly endurance you need. We want you to work for us. We aren't a public organization so you have no worries about us wanting you for your name. I don't think other organizations can say the same. Ask any of our operatives, we pour a lot of resources into them because we understand that people are more than simply chess pieces. For trust, yes, you would be putting your life into our hands, but have we done anything to betray your trust as of yet?"

Harry shook his head no, even as he narrowed his eyes. "I have no idea whether or not you've betrayed my trust yet or not. All I have is your word up to this point. Please forgive me if I sound paranoid or rude, but all things considered I think it's only natural after what I've been through."

Basil nodded his head; "You are correct Mr. Potter. I say trust your instincts. What do they tell you?"

"That you haven't betrayed me. Yet."

"And I have no intention of beginning now. That book Croaker gave you."

"Croaker?"

Basil cursed under his breath; he hadn't been planning to let it slip until after the lad had joined him. "You know him as Mr. Blue. The book he gave you last night, did you read it?"

"I used one of the spells in it against the death eaters."

"Indeed, most impressive then. Those spells are all above Auror level. The fact that you've used one… pardon me, I'm rambling, and we already covered that. Did you read whose book that was?"

"Someone known as Flame. Who is he?"

"She Mr. Potter, she. She was someone you should have known all your life, someone who ensured that you survived again. I already told you we'd give you full access to your mother's files that weren't classified whether or not you joined us. That book is classified and you may consider it an extension of trust."

Harry didn't say a word, once again resembling a statue. Basil finally continued. "As far as manipulations go, as head of the Unspeakable department we will sometimes order you to take assignments and perform jobs not to your liking. All operatives are required to give a loyalty oath; most are crafted to prevent abuse by department heads. The last thing we want is someone to abuse their position and start assassinating all their opponents by ordering you around. That said, we do play our own political games and such, but within the department there's no manipulation. Too much is on the line for those damn games. Something that your headmaster has not, and I doubt will ever, learn. In fact we've uncovered information on Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore that would make your blood boil, if it weren't already."

Harry soaked up all the information he had just been given, and finally replied, "I have two other questions."

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"Can you tell me more about my mum?"

Basil smiled, a real smile tinged with some slight sadness. As he began to speak his eyes misted over the memories in his mind, evoking emotions that he had forgotten he had had. "Lily Evans nee Potter. She started working for us her seventh year at Hogwarts. Mainly she started in R the war was going on and she wanted to do what she could. When she left Hogwarts her husband began his training in the Auror program. They compressed it because they desperately needed the manpower. During that time, she shifted her position from Intel to operations and joined tactical operations; I gave her the moniker Flame. Traditionally all Tactical operations are given elements as code-names; there are a few exceptions, but she wasn't one of them. Her job was to go into battle and eliminate the enemy. She was quite good at it, never bloodthirsty (we have some like that you see), but determined. I remember when she shifted back to research, but kept using her moniker. She came bouncing into my office that morning and with a huge smile she told me the news she was pregnant. I had met your father a couple times at ministry functions. Needless to say I was considered for the godfather position, but he wanted it to go to his best friend, I could hardly blame him. As I had already taken Lily in as a surrogate daughter I was made surrogate grandfather of sorts. I babysat you once, you know, changed your nappies and everything. A year passed, the last time I saw your mother she came in to tell me about their plans to go into hiding. I offered our services, but she told me Albus had been taking care of it."

Basil paused for a moment, pain evident in his voice. "At the time Harry, I still trusted Albus Dumbledore. It was this incident that led me to start looking into him more carefully. Then your godfather was sent to Azkaban and we thought the matter closed. I had wanted to take you in but Albus told me he had already arranged for your care, I did ask and he assured me it was someplace safe. I reminded him what your mother had told me about your Aunt, and how they never got along. I told Albus that the safe place had better not be with your relatives. He assured me that it was protected by the strongest of blood wards and that you'd never be harmed. I later learned what a folly that was, and I failed you as much as anyone else." It was obvious that the man was filled with regret over what happened. "I never learned the truth of the matter until after our operative was in place, which was during your third year. At that point I assumed that if it had been bad you would have informed someone."

They were both quiet for a moment; finally Harry broke the silence. "Thank you. I feel like I know my mother a little better. Can I ask my other question now?"

Basil nodded, feeling a bit old. He was the head of the British InterBUn, but then Lily Potter had been his first protégé, and practically become another daughter to himself and his wife. "Please Mr. Potter your other question."

"When I have some time between assignments could you tell me more stories about her and what her time here was like?"

It took a moment for the full meaning of his words to sink in and as it did he saw Basil's expression change to a warm smile. "I can honestly say that my boss will be wanting to meet you very soon. Meanwhile there are a couple people who want to meet you."

At his words the two operatives who had left when he began to talk to Harry about his mother came back into the room. At his nod they dropped their concealment charms, and Harry's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Hello son," came the warm voice of Arthur Weasley.

Followed by "Wotcher Harry!"

"Tonks? Mr. Weasley? You're Unspeakables?"

"Like the boss-man said we're not a public organization. I suppose you've got some questions for us now?"

"Yeah Tonks. 'Some' barely scratches the surface."

"Arthur, you can give him the full brief, after that get him to a safe-house for the night, after that you're dismissed. Tonks, you take care of pickup in the morning. Harry, work out some pass code with Tonks for tomorrow morning when she picks you up. Also get him trained to use your code names, as always, names don't exist outside this office until you're clear from the building. Standard Security Procedures. Oh and Arthur, he's not cleared for firebrand yet, sorry Harry after you're initial training is complete we'll reassess your acting ability. Dismissed."

Harry found himself behind Mr. Weasley but in front of Tonks. "No names until we get to another secure room kiddo."

"Yes ma'am," he replied, earning him a light punch to his shoulder for his cheek.

A minute later they ended up in a small conference room with the word Tac-Ops Brief 03 on the door. They pushed through the door and Arthur slid into a chair while Tonks began to layer privacy and silencing wards around the room. At length she looked at him, nodded and took a seat.

"Okay Harry, from here on out, I am Mr. Grey and Tonks is Spunky."

"Will I get a name like that Mr. Grey?"

"At length you will, it depends on what department you go into, depending on where you fit in you might have several different names. It might take a while, but you'll eventually get used to it. As for how the names fit in, I'll give you a brief overview. As Basil mentioned, it's a cover name so it's safe. Tactical operation mainly take elements as their code-names. In some cases they'll assign a class of warrior or weapon if it's fitting. Your mother was Flame, partially for her hair, partially for her temperament. I worked with her a couple times." He added by way of explanation at Harry's look.

"I'm Mr. Grey, as Special operations take color and add Mr. or Ms. For their code-names. I only work Special operations, which means I'm rarely here. Department heads get full names, fake of course, usually from literary works."

"I'm field surveillance. We get code-names based on our personality, though sometimes it's because we lack that aspect of the personality. We've got one guy called Smiley because he's almost as sour as Snape." She chuckled at her slight against both of them. "R&D are a strange bunch, they get to make their own code-names with no discernable base. In fact the Professor has his full cover name, but he prefers the code-name he came up with himself, which is Professor." She shrugged, "He's a little strange but brilliant, some of the things he and H.G. make up are wild!"

"H.G.?"

"It stands for something, but I don't remember what. She told me a while ago she had to take the name because she lost a bet with the Professor, if she had won she would've been Professor and he'd have been something else."

"This is a lot to take in. Can you answer some questions before we start on this briefing thing Basil talked about?"

"Sure son, where would you like to begin?"

"How did you guys get involved with the department, as far as I knew Mr. Weas… er Grey you worked for the ministry and Spunky was a clumsy Auror."

They both laughed at his description of Tonks. "I guess I'll go first since it's shorter. I was recruited during my Auror training, I've always been a little clumsy, but nothing like I act now. For one it makes people underestimate me, for another if you thought that it was true so would everyone else, so no one would suspect it was me under the concealment charms. One of the things that old snakeface would love is to find out who our operatives are. Especially one in particular." She looked right at Arthur Weasley at her words.

He didn't blush or show any signs of acknowledgement except to begin his story. "Well my story is quite different than Spunky's. As you know I've been working for the Ministry for years. You're aware that Bill was born during the first rise to power, and I wanted a way to better protect my new family. I applied for Auror training. I was accepted and did well up until my exams. For some reason I choked up during the tests. I later found out my tests were tampered with. After failing I was then approached by Basil's predecessor. He apologized for interfering with my tests, but wanted me to work for him and if I joined the Aurors I would be inaccessible. I accepted his initial invitation; I started in Tac-Ops, but later moved to Spec-Ops. I'm also known as Ghost, in fact the only people who know Mr. Grey is also Ghost are you two and the department heads. After the first defeat I resigned and went off active duty. Occasionally I'd step in to help training one of the new recruits."

He paused as he considered whether or not to tell the next part of the story, he finally decided to tell him at a later date. "I came back to active duty during your third school year, right before we got an asset in place at Hogwarts. Since I couldn't blow my cover, I observed you best I could and Clark, who's my immediate boss, had me begin to investigate Dumbledore."

"What are assets?"

"Oh I'm sorry, Field Operations Personal are referred too as assets, Tactical Operations Personal are referred too as Operatives."

"And Special Operations Personal are referred too as bloody scary."

"Har-har, we are referred to as specialists," he added dryly, giving Tonks a glare. "Now what else would you like to know?"

Harry took a deep breath and grabbed the arm of his chair in a vice-grip. "I think it's time to find out what you know about Dumbledore."

Arthur took a deep breath and then began. "We don't know everything yet. Some of what we think we know comes from Intelligence Analysts who deciphered it based on reports from different assets. Fact, Dumbledore has never told you the truth about your heritage. I know he's never given you the chance to see your parents will. Has he ever taken you to your family vault?"

"Family Vault?"

"I thought so. Harry, the Potter family is an ancient and noble house, literally. You as the only living descendant are heir to a massive fortune. One that makes your trust vault look like a pittance. You are Lord Harry James Potter. You are also the last living member of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw lines. There are also rumors of Hufflepuff marrying into the family, but it was not a direct line so there are other descendants."

"But the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin!" he gasped, his eyes growing to the size of galleons.

"The sorting hat makes its decision based on personal characteristics. I trust you hadn't heard all the stories about yourself until your letter arrived?" When Harry nodded Tonks continued, "That being the case, you probably wanted to prove yourself worthy and the hat saw that as ambition."

Harry swallowed that explanation made a lot of sense. He suddenly felt a little better about himself. He'd never admit it to anyone but the house prejudices of 'evil Slytherins' always made him feel unclean since the Hat would have put him there.

"Now back to where I was, Dumbledore has hidden the truth about your ancestry from you, because if it were known you were the heir of three great lines you'd have a great deal of political clout to yield, which is something I think he's trying to keep from you for a few years yet. Do you know why you've been forced to live with those horrible excuses for Muggles?"

"Dumbledore said something about blood wards and strong protections, not that it protects me from the Dursley's." He spat the name out as if it were a curse instead of a name.

"Harry I read the report of how Voldemort was resurrected, what did he use?"

"His father's bone, Wormtail's arm, my blood…" Two was added to two and four was the result based on how pale Harry's face became. "That means he could have attacked me at home since the end of fourth year and the blood wards wouldn't have slowed him down! That means I shouldn't have had to stay with the Dursleys at that point I could have stayed with Sirius, that bastard!" His grip on the armrests tightened and his knuckles became white.

"While he'll tell you truthfully that there are other wards in place to keep you safe there, the truth is they are so lacking in power one of the junior death eaters could take them down. Now ask yourself this question. Why then would he insist on you returning to that place?"

Every word Harry spoke came out slow and forced, not surprising as he was trying very hard to reign in his temper. "Because he knew if I went back there I would be hated and abused at least verbally, so that when he allowed me to go anywhere else, I would look to him as the one who saved me, or helped me escape, not the one who locked me up there in the first place."

"Analytical ability too? After the show we saw this kid could go into any department here, Grey."

The new voice had them all spinning around to look at the newcomer. "Nice job on the privacy wards there. Your work, Spunky?"

Tonks nodded to the man respectfully, Arthur just sat there and waited for him to speak.

"Well Grey, I wanted to meet this prodigy that Croaker keeps going on about. I know how you look at him as we had to restrain you from charging into the ministry to rescue him."

Harry turned to look at Arthur who had the decency to blush. He then turned his gaze on the newcomer who met his piercing stare with a relaxed look.

"Welcome Mr. Potter, I wanted to get a chance to introduce myself to you before any of the other branches get their claws into you."

"We weren't doing the meet and greet till tomorrow Clark."

"I know what Basil said, but I'm here as my other self, not as Croaker's staff. Why do you think he performed the initial setup? He didn't want me to get to him first."

Not being able to follow the conversation completely set Harry back to be a little nervous. "So just who are you then?"

"Sorry kid, Jonathon Clark. I have two positions here. Officially I'm in charge of Tactical Operation under Croaker. Unofficially I run Special Ops, as we don't exist and unofficially I run Special Ops, as we don't exist. I work directly under Basil himself. Just wanted to say hello in this capacity before I meet you tomorrow in the official one. For the record I want you in both." He grinned and left the room.

"Right, then it's getting late and I have to get back to the office and finish up some reports or Amelia might get suspicious of this rather long lunch I'm taking. Harry I'm going to take you to one of our safe houses for the night and get you settled. Tonks will pick you up around seven-tomorrow morning for the tour and to start getting you outfitted. Harry, if you want more details on Dumbledore I'll give them to you, but do you have enough for tonight?"

Harry nodded and followed Mr. Weasley to the fireplace.

…

Clark walked back to his office and entered to find someone sitting in one of his guest chairs waiting.

"Shouldn't you be at home or something?" he asked, hiding his pleasure at someone managing to break into his office.

"I wanted to talk to you." Came the terse reply.

"Yes then, what is it?"

"I'd like to know why my request to transfer to Tactical Operations was denied. I know I'm young but I've had a lot of training, I haven't had the other problems in over a year, and I feel as if I'm ready at least ready enough to be allowed to take the entrance exam."

"Look Firebrand, you are still our only asset in Hogwarts, though I just came from an interview with a potential operative who might be joining you soon."

"Really? Is it someone I've been observing?"

"You know Opsec, I can neither confirm nor deny your thoughts. For now Tac-ops is out for you. Do you remember why you were brought here in the first place?"

She looked down at the ground, embarrassed.

"Oh honestly it was understandable. Now I have a different proposition for you. I'd like you to forget Tac-ops all together. Your work as an asset will be increasing as we step up our case, but you're right, you'll need to be more than a field surveillance asset. Tell me, what do you know about Spec-Ops?"


	4. Chapter 4

Forgotten Disclaimer: Harry Potter and company are copyright J.K Rowling and her publishers. Several other character references are borrowed from Rorschach's Blot and you really ought to read those if you want to know what some of the references area about.

Once Again: Thanks to my wonderful Beta KDTheRavenclaw and also the entire (and still somewhat insane) group on Rorsch's Yahoo group. And special thanks to my pre-beta Cassie P.

Chapter 4 – Limelight

"Good morning asset Firebrand, what brings you in this early?"

"Good morning Carver, have a meeting with Clark. He still won't take me into Tactical, but he said He'd let me start to get additional training."

"I'd hate to lose you Firebrand. I admit I was a bit apprehensive when I found out they had recruited a student to be in my department, but you've more than proved yourself to me and the whole department. Croaker loves you almost as much as your parents do."

"Why Carver if I didn't know better I'd think you were getting soft."

"Brat, I'll meet you in the briefing room later, Clark's already waiting for you."

"So you knew? I was hoping to be able to break the news."

"Kid if I didn't know I wouldn't be in this position to begin with, get going."

She nodded and walked into the room. She didn't see Carver's expression as she walked into the room tinged with concern. "Good luck kid," he whispered as the door Closed."

Firebrand walked into the room that suddenly plunged into darkness.

She was immediately attacked.

…

He had to be dreaming, it was the only explanation. He was alive, not in Azkaban and had spent the night in a wonderfully comfortable bed, had learned more about his family history in ten minutes than he had his whole life and met someone who had known his mum really well. He moved his right hand over his left arm and grabbed flesh with his fingers.

'Nope not a dream' he concluded as he rubbed the now very sore spot and headed down stairs. Entering the Kitchen he looked for something to eat, finding some basic staples held in a stasis charm he quickly fixed breakfast and ate. Finished eating he washed his dishes and went back to the room where he slept. He looked around and found some clothes close enough to his size to fit him much better than Dudley's old cast-offs.

Clothed and Fed, he went down to the fireplace and waited. Just as the clock chimed Seven the fireplace roared to life and a figure stepped out.

The figure froze as she felt a metal poker quickly come to rest on her spine.

"Wotcher Harry, Marauders for the win," she said very quickly and then relaxed as she felt it move away from her. "Merlin, you almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you were gonna give me back surgery."

"Sorry Tonks." She glared at him, "Err Spunky," she nodded at the correction.

"Get used to it until the day is over. Now before we go," she quickly cast a glamour to obscure his face and then grabbed a handful of floo powder from her pocket. "Carvers!" and with that the safe house was once again empty.

…

Asset Firebrand felt the magic shift and dove to the side just in time to avoid a stunner. Rolling as she hit the ground she came up, drawing her wand and firing, _Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!_ Three red jets fired in the general directions of where the spell had come from. She then quickly cast a Disillusionment charm on herself and rolled away to her left.

She had barely gotten back to her feet when she heard the impact of a Bludgeoning hex slam into the ground she had just vacated.

She slowed her breathing down, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand. A plan of action forming in her mind, Firebrand let her breath out and closed her eyes, something she had done in training, but never during combat.

…

Harry and Tonks came out of the office of William Carver head of the Field Surveillance division of the Operations department. "Hello Spunky, this is the new recruit I take it?"

"Yeah, doesn't even have a cover name yet, course they haven't decided where to put him yet."

"Oh so we got a shot? Tell me recruit how good are your stealth skills?"

"Not too bad, but nothing to brag about, of course I… what was that?"

"What was what?"

"That explosion?"

"I didn't hear anything." Tonks looked at Harry, a bit concerned at the concentration on his face.

"There, that was a Reducto, I could feel it… what?" he asked noticing the funny look Tonks was giving him.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." She said before he could ask. "Training going on boss?"

"Clarks got his eyes on one of mine, giving them a test, they live they pass, they get carried out to medical they fail."

"Anyway," interrupted Tonks before Harry could get too carried away, "It's the official meet and greet and I thought I'd start with my department.

"Right, hello then, and welcome to Field Surveillance, we work under the direction of the Operations Department. Our main duty is to supply assets to the field to report back on enemy movements, or other points of interest. Spunky for example is assigned to report on a well placed political subject, as well as report back on the goings-on at the ministry."

"I see, so the main objectives for Field surveillance are stealth and surveillance?"

"Correct, training for our department centers around hiding one's self from magical and muggle means of detection. We also have a strong focus on ward-breaking as there are often a lot of wards to go through in the field, and getting through them without setting them off is often key to our assignments."

Harry nodded, looking around the office a bit. He asked a few more questions and then nodded to Tonks, who led him out of the room, nodding politely to her division director.

…

With her plan ready, Firebrand began her attack. Crouched over she prepared a delayed flash spell that would emit an extremely bright light on the spot she had cast it in ten seconds, and then quickly moved away.

Ten seconds later the spell went off and the dark room was filled with blinding light. Had one been looking at the source they'd see spots for a while. A normal person would look around for their attacker, but Firebrand was much better trained than most; instead she looked around the ground for the shadow of her disillusioned attacker.

She spotted the Shadow and launched a flurry of bone breakers, bludgeoning hexes and stunners around the area. She heard the grunt of her target going down (they had caught two stupefies, she noted proudly), and summoned the wand to her hand.

"Innervateshe said, her face practically glowing with a smile. It died on her lips when she saw who she had been fighting.

"Daddy!" she stammered, suddenly sounding her age instead of the hard trained asset she normally portrayed.

"Hello Sweetheart, I'm proud of you."

…

"Good morning Recruit, I'm Renee Callienta, and I run Intelligence Analysis."

"Good morning mam, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Please Sit down, Spunky, I'd like to chat for a while, we should finish up in about 20 minutes unless he's truly interested in my department." She sighed as Tonks rolled her eyes, "Yes that's about the same response I expect as well, now be off with you." She shooed Tonks away and turned her attention back to Harry.

"I didn't want Nymphadora to interrupt our little chat. Would you like some tea Harry Potter?"

…

"Are you surprised to see me?"

"Very. I never realized you worked here, I thought you just had friends in the department."

"You're the only one who now knows, I couldn't tell your mum, poor Molly worries enough as it is. "

Her eyes widened in realization. "They made you come back as payment for helping me didn't they?"

He smiled gently. "No, I volunteered in my thanks. And it's been good, I'd forgotten the rush I got from working behind the scenes, it can be dangerously addictive which is why I wanted to talk to you before Clark got to you."

There was a knock on the door and Ginny's training asset came in to greet her. "Wotcher Ginny, oh relax Arthur, this is a secure room, and Carver and Clark already know who you are so it's not like it's a security risk."

"Best not get too much into the Habit though."

"But what happens when we meet at home, don't you think it's odd if mum hears me call Tonks Spunky? Or refer to you as the Ghost?"

He paled at that accusation, "She might get the reference, she might have heard rumors of that during the first war."

"So you two wanted to have a talk with me?"

The pair exchanged looks for a split second. Tonks was relatively new to the Special Operations Branch, while her spell ability was up to Tactical standards it was her abilities as a metamorphagus that had garnered her field. She was one of the best stealth agents they had, and some of her assignments went into the realm of Special Ops, thus she was brought on to the team. She looked to Arthur for instruction and guidance most of the time, but in this case she knew he was too close to the subject at heart so it was her job.

"Listen Firebrand, I have a lot of respect for what you've accomplished up till now, and it's no slight against you, in fact you've impressed quite a lot of people." Tonks took a deep breath, before she was interrupted.

"This has something to do with my application to transfer to tactical operations doesn't it?" she asked sharply, drawing a wince from Tonks. She smiled and waved them off. "Relax I talked to Clark last night about it."

That drew a surprised look from Arthur who frowned and handed over a Galleon to Tonks who was now Smiling. "Well good, that gets that out of the way, now sit down Firebrand this might take some time."

…

"Well what do you think?"

"He's with Callienta right now, we'll save the Professor for last."

"So Clark are you ready to meet the golden boy?"

"You haven't met him yet Charles, he's better than you are willing to give him credit for."

"Well if he impresses Callienta then he'll be okay in my book."

"Unfair bet, no one's impressed her before."

Croaker, Charles, Carver and Clark were all gathered in a room waiting for Basil. A moment later he made his presence known as his chair turned to face them.

"I'll take that bet, what are you willing to put up Charles?"

"A case of Ogden's finest Basil, anyone else?"

"As I recall you have a bottle of Ogden's from 1871 correct?"

"Only if you are willing to put up that 1812 bottle scotch you keep preserved Mr. Clark."

"I salute you Mr. Charles and accept your bet."

"Right, then if the betting is over shall we get down to business?"

"Yes sir." The other four men settled into their seats around the table.

"First, operation false light, regarding asset Firebrand, where do we stand, Carver?"

"She's ready Basil, I presume Clark talked to you on the subject already?"

"Yes he did, she's being briefed on the assignment as we speak."

"Is Paladin going to be in on this?"

"So you've decided on Mr. Potter's Code-name then Croaker?"

"One of them, I understand Clark has his own plans for the lad, but yes, while he works for me he will be Paladin. They know each other, even if they don't know it yet, it would be advantageous for them to work together rather than unknowingly work against each other."

"Very well, for now I want to see what his level of talent is, after his first stage of training we'll re-assess if he's ready for it, we'll brief him and introduce him."

"What about Firebrand? We know she has a problem keeping tabs on him as it is, if he starts acting funny it's going to be big problems unless she knows."

"Let's not borrow trouble guys, we'll take that when it comes, besides, she's one of mine now." Added Clark with an almost wolfish grin. "I plan to have her beyond Mr. Grey's abilities by the end of the year, Paladin as well. Those two are going to make one hell of a special operations team. Who would expect two teenagers on a date to be performing a spec-op mission."

"Clark you're getting ahead of yourself don't you think?"

"If I don't have a working partnership by the end of their summer training, assuming they can meet by august, I'll buy all of you a case of Ogden's finest."

"I accept your challenge." Said Charles still rather self-assured. "When am I scheduled to meet your boy wonder?"

Basil answered this one. "When Callienta finishes explaining to me how you owe me a case of liquor then it's Clarks turn, official capacity." He added with a wag of his finger, "Then the professor wants to start getting him measures and outfitted, he's got some new gear he wants to try out, some kind of new wand, and a ton of secrecy additions. After that he'll meet with you Croaker and myself and then back to his safe house. Depending on what he picks, tomorrow he begins training."

The Four men nodded and stood. Recognizing Basil's directions with a nod they all left to work on various assignments, projects and other things.

…

Harry reflected how much he had liked and gotten along with the deputy director of intelligence. She was very smart, she reminded him of Hermione, but it wasn't just book smarts, it was more like being able to connect two points that may or may have not been there.

She showed him some raw data and asked him to draw conclusions from what he saw. She looked pleased when he asked her for some additional and seemingly unrelated information, and even more please when his conclusion was similar to hers, but emphasized different points.

"Ok we're going to meet Clark in his official capacity so he'll be talking to you about Tac-Ops, for now just ignore meeting him last night and act like this is your first meeting."

Harry nodded and followed her into the office.

…

Basil, Charles and Croaker were back in the briefing room when Callienta walked in. "Basil if you don't at least let me offer that child a position on my team I will personally demonstrate why I was qualified for Tactical ops!"

Charles groaned and Basil grinned. "Thank you Renee you've just won me a Case of Ogden's finest."

"And cost me my bottle of 1871 firewhiskey to boot, I think I was set up."

"You were warned Charles, the kid is good, he could fit in any branch, with the possible exception of R&D, I don't think he's got the right mentality to research things."

"How good was the kid at Analysis?"

"If I hadn't known he was a soon to be sixteen year old I'd never believe it."

"What test did you give him?"

"Analysis of Dark force movements during the first war, I gave him the basics, witness reports, Dementor sightings, attacks. He asked for correlating evidence based on consumption, movement and magical signatures, fifteen minutes start to finish and he told me that they were planning to attack Hogsmeade within a five day period. He then proceeded to inform me that the best defense would be to evacuate the town to Hogwarts, set traps wait for their entrance and destroy the whole city with them in it."

"That was the best he could do? Typical fanciful thinking of a teenager."

"Normally I'd agree with you but it matched the reports made by InterBUn HQ back in the mid 70's, he came up with the same conclusion as InterBUn's Chief Intelligence officer."

"What? I've never seen that report!"

"No reason for you to, because it was disregarded after the attack hit elsewhere, we later learned after the war that Voldemort managed to get a spy into InterBUn and after hearing about the report changed the plan of attack."

"So who was CIO at the time?"

"The same person who holds that position today, InterBUn CIO Nicholas Flamel."

"You're telling me a child came to the same conclusion as the oldest, and arguably wisest man on the planet?"

"Well to be fair I came to the same conclusion during my test, but I took mine at thirty five and I had over twice the life experience than he does!"

"Do you really?" asked Basil sadly, "I think I could count on one hand the people who's lived a life with as much on the line as that young man, is it any wonder he's learned to analyze attack patterns considering what happens to him every year? Or what happened to him last year?" he asked with a bit of power behind his words.

"I never considered that aspect of his life Basil, but can I at least consult with him if he consents? He's got a mind for this kind of thing."

"If its with his consent, though honestly I think this is a good opportunity to lower some of the animosity between intelligence and operations," he said, waving towards Charles and Croaker. "Not that you two have any problems, but Intel does tend to ignore the sacrifices Ops goes through to gather their information, and Operations could stand to be less hostile to those who work at home." He added chiding both sides gently.

"Where is he now?"

"With Clark, it's bad enough he's going to get him for Special ops, but he's getting Arthur's daughter as well, this young blood all has a thirst for danger and adventure, why didn't you let me put her in tac-ops?"

"A promise to her father, part of the deal when he signed back on."

Croaker sighed. "At least she'll be trained right, no one trains people like Clark does, even after all these years he's still one of the best in the business."

"Good to know, Spunky knows to be vigilante about the professor right?"

They smiled it was no secret among the department heads that Professor Farnsworth was looking for a new test dummy for some of his inventions, and most of them were garnered for Special Operations.

"Well Clark said he was going to try and get boy wonder into the sim room, shall we observe?"

…

"So let me get this straight, Professor Dumbledore head warlock of the Wizengomit and way too many other titles to remember, has been pulling strings of a bloody lot of what's going on in the wizarding world, and the only people who suspect him all work for the Department of Mysteries?"

Tonks had done the initial brief and welcome, and then left leaving Arthur to set the finer points of the assignment.

"That's about the sum of it, there are parts of this operation you're still not cleared for, but we need your work for part of it."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I know this is going to sound horrible, but I need you to spy on, and set-up some of your friends. We need to know who is trustworthy among them, and who Dumbledore already exerts influence on. In some cases it might be unwilling influence, oh he's not evil enough to use imperio, at least to our knowledge." He corrected himself, "But we do know for a fact he's been known to alter memories to suit his purposes."

Firebrand gasped in terror, "Has he ever…"

"No pumpkin, first off we check everyone for memory charms during your weekly physicals. And secondly, somehow your first year experience gave you natural occlumancy, and your mind is protected, at least it's enough that you would know if he got into your head, that's why you weren't required to take Occlumancy like the rest of the operatives and assets. It's rather a splendid gift, the mantra for occlumancy in special operations is One must put up barriers; To keep oneself intact. I just wish you didn't have to go through what you did to get it."

"Well that's at least two good things that came out of my first year."

"Oh and what's the other?"

His daughter blushed and changed the subject. "What do you need me to do for this operation?"

"I'm going to set some letters up to friends of yours, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ron, yes just because he's my son doesn't mean he's exempt from suspicion. I need you and Spunky in place and under deep cover to observe who shows up, mind you I don't know who will show up but you can't react to what you see. It's really a field surveillance operation but the nature of this operation falls to special operations. Of course that Clark already agreed to take you and train you with the other new specialist just sealed the mission as a go."

"Ok daddy," she happily hugged her father and grinned, "I need to get back soon or Mum's gonna get suspicious. I've got the usual charmed paper I use for communication for any other details, oh is there any word on Harry, wait this is why Dumbledore refused to help Harry isn't it, it's also why he's cut us all off from talking to him, he's trying to manipulate him. We've got to warn him!"

"Well sweetheart, your friend" he said emphasizing the word friend, "is currently on the run from the ministry, I doubt he'd be able to receive any letters without risking getting caught. Besides, he's not likely to be receptive to Dumbledore after what happened last year and all."

"Ok, Mr. Grey," she smirked at her father, "I figured he wouldn't be able to get mail right now, but if I can communicate with him, can I at least warn him about Dumbledore?"

Arthur was at a momentary loss, on one hand if she did Harry was likely to put the pieces together, on the other hand if he said no, she was likely to do so anyway. "I'm not sure sweetheart, let me talk to Clark, right now Harry should be safely hidden, or on the run, and your position must be kept absolutely secret. If somehow anyone found out you'd be in more danger than he is. How about I'll try to locate him and warn him myself."

"Okay, but promise me I'll be able to send him a warning if you fail by the end of a week. I'm sure Dumbledore has the order looking for him."

Her father's eyes narrowed. "Ginevra Molly Weasley you know more than you're telling. Spill now."

She suddenly began to twitch her fingers nervously. "Well you see dad before the end of the term when Harry started to shut everyone away I smuggled one of the two way parchments into his trunk so I could write to him during the summer if anything happened and then I wrote him a letter to let him know we were trying to talk to him but nothing had made it through and he wrote back saying how nice it was that all his friends hadn't forgotten about him and left space at the end of the letter so he could write back if I wrote to him so if he still has it I can write to him and it's charmed to look like homework if anyone who doesn't have Potter blood sees it."

Arthur Weasley blinked trying to comprehend how his daughter had managed that in one breath. "You didn't break craft for this did you?"

"No I told him that Fred and George helped with the charms."

"Is he likely to ask them about it?"

"No I had them do some charm work on another piece of paper so they'll think that's what he means."

"I'm impressed. But I doubt he has it with him, when I read the report all his personal effects were at his home and it's being watched. Don't worry I'll make sure we get to him before anyone else does. You might want to let Hermione know to keep you informed if he contacts her through muggle methods though."

"Good idea, I'll write her when I get home." She kissed him on the cheek, said "See you at dinner," walked to the portkey room, and grabbed one of her assigned portkeys which took her back to the woods behind the Burrow. She tapped her wand on her clothes and they transfigured back into the jeans and t-shirt she had worn when she went for a walk.

"Hey Gin-gin!" said Bill who was waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Bill! Not complaining but why are you here and not at Gringotts?"

"Just wanted to let you know Harry hasn't been caught yet, and if we hear anything about him we'll let you know."

She smiled sadly at her brother and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Bill."

He patted her on the head and gave her a warm smile. "It'll be okay Ginny, Harry's smart, he managed to get away the first time and that was under guard, he'll be able to keep himself safe and out of harm."

"I hope you're right, I just can't shake the feeling that he's in trouble right now."

"I'm sure he's fine."

…

'I am in deep trouble,' thought Harry as he continued to dodge curses left and right.

It had started out so simple, Tonks, that is Spunky had re-introduced him to Clark who showed him some of the different training rooms that were available to Tactical Operations. His two favorites were the range, and the sim room. The range was a magical firing range used to test combat spells, targets could be set down, or set to move like a real person. After each hit it showed the power of the spell, and how close to the center of the target the spell hit. He had borrowed a wand and tried the enhanced banishing spell he had used the day before and scored a 9 (out of 10) for accuracy and a 7.2 (Out of 10) for power. At first he had been disappointed on his low power score, until he observed another Unspeakable down the range who hit his target with a reductor and only scored a 6 for power.

After watching him throw a few more spells at the target Clark had come up to him and asked if he wanted to try the sim room. It turned out it was similar to the room of requirement back at Hogwarts, but perhaps even more advanced. He then activated two of the training golems that were in the corner. "New device from across the pond, bloody wonder those American Techno-mages," he said to Harry by way of explanation.

Eager to see the room in action as well as the training golems, he nodded and walked into the room. What Clark hadn't told him was that the golems threw spells like water and didn't seem to be running slow, minor curses didn't even phase them and by the time he realized it, he was too busy dodging desperately to think about attacking again.

He flopped to the ground as two reducto's flew over his head and rolled to his left, bringing his borrowed wand around and aiming in the general direction of the dummies, "_Explodora!_" He threw the high-powered explosion hex at the floor in front of the golems and the blast threw one of the dummies to the ground. He smiled until it got back up.

'Sure I'd love to see what they can do my bloody arse!' he cursed to himself as he threw two reducto's at the undamaged golem just to watch it dodge out of the way. 'This is not working, time to get creative.' He thought to himself as his mind started working in overdrive, 'Time to test this wandless thing.'

…

Above in the observation room Croaker, Basil, Charles, Tonks and finally Arthur joined Clark.

"How's he doing?" asked Tonks who was the last to join them.

"His accuracy isn't bad, especially since I turned the two golems to full power."

"Cor Blimey! He hasn't been taken down yet?"

"Kids been at it for ten minutes, he's managed to beat the former record for a recruit, and if he can hang on for another ten he'll be at the base levels of a current operative. He's got good instincts too, he aimed that explosion Hex at the ground to create an attack that would hit the target instead of trying to fling the spell at the target."

"Clark you programmed these to go all out, why against this recruit?"

"You know him better than I do Ghost, but from what I've seen he thrives under pressure, give him impossible odds and he'll beat them every time."

"Well his record seems to agree with you." Said Croaker as they watched Harry's next move.

…

He was concentrating hard to focus his energy, so hard he missed one of the golems casting a bludgeoning hex at him.

"_Accio Golem!_" he yelled with a wave of his left hand already pointed at the already damaged unit. 'Only got one shot at this' he thought to himself as he twisted around to get the flying golem in line with the standing one. "_Pulsum Valde!"_ he nailed it with the same super-high-speed banishing hex he had used in the fight against the death eaters the previous day.

The Pulsum Valde spell was one of the gems in the book Mr. Blue had given him. Unlike the traditional banishing spell that sent an object flying away at a moderate speed, the spell his mother created immediately accelerated the object it affected to over 300mph in a straight line away from the point of casting.

The golems were built tough. Designed to survive massive spell damage up to and including the killing curse. They were not, however as powerful against physical damage. Thus the resulting impact of the two golems utterly shattered them and broke their internal magical core. At the same time the Reducto that had been thrown nailed him and he flew back and slammed into a wall and slid down not moving, too tired to try and get back up, too much in pain to even open his eyes.

…

Among those observing the silence was broken by the sound of pounding feet and a door being slammed, other than that it was still quiet.

Perhaps shocked silence would be a better term.

Finally Clark broke the spell over the rest of them. "That was the most bloody brilliant tactical response I've ever seen, wandless summon with high speed banishing, Merlin!"

"We need to get him to medical to check him over before he meets with the Professor." Added Tonks, who then left to join Arthur who was already half way down to the room.

…

Arthur Weasley approached the form of Harry Potter lying on the ground and held back a wince. Had they seen the condition that Harry had gotten himself in, then he would have been the one to get hexed from his wife or daughter, both of whom were still fiercely protective of the Boy Who lived, no fiercely protective of Harry, because that's how they thought of him.

'Of course, the lad seems to do well on his own' he thought as he dove to the ground as a spell flew over his head. "Harry, son it's me."

"Sorry," came the mumbled reply, "Wasn't sure if those golems had finally stopped or not. Didn't want to take a chance."

"You were amazing son, only our best operatives have managed to damage one of those things and you broke two of them." He said as he carefully put his arm under Harry's and raised him up.

"Wotcher Harry, if they weren't drooling over you before I guarantee that Croaker and Clark are now. Now let's get you to medical, Mr. Grey you realize what happens if certain people find out about this…" she started as she put her shoulder under Harry's arm.

"Yes I know I'm dead if they did. We've got your cover name now, Croaker picked one and Basil agreed to it, regardless of where you end up."

He stopped talking when he realized that Harry had passed out and they quickly took him to the lift, and back to level 12 where the mediwitches were already waiting for him.

…

"Albus?"

"Kingsley anything to report?"

"None yet, the Minister's going spare trying to find out how Potter got away and where he's hiding. How about your tracking devices any of them picking anything up?"

"No, I've been trying to repair some of them but the ones that I've managed to get working again are not powerful enough to locate him."

"Albus not to agree with him, but if you had listened to Arthur and tried to help Harry he might have been less willing to simply escape the way that he has."

"What concerns me at the moment, is how did he manage to over power his Auror guards, he couldn't have been armed, you are still holding his wand aren't you?

"Yes, and Fudge is still planning on having a trial. If he shows up we've got him, and if he doesn't the charges will be so high that the only person more wanted than him will be Voldemort."

Dumbledore sighed. I will talk to Cornelius and see if I can get him to listen to reason, what confounds me is why would Harry attempt to escape, surely he knew we wouldn't let any harm come to him."

"I think Tonks knew where he was being sent, I heard her muttering something under her breath yesterday about it."

"Indeed, where is young Nymphadora? Shouldn't she have reported with you?"

"Amelia has her on some project, something hush-hush and she couldn't get away."

"Very well, for now I'll have the order shift it's priority to locating young Harry, and I'd like you to find out where he was being sent, perhaps that had something to do with his sudden decision to escape."

"Very well Albus, Good day."

"To you as well Kingsley," he replied as The Auror stepped back into the fireplace and flooed his way back to the ministry.

Albus glanced at the time piece he had placed in the kitchen, he had called the Order for a meeting later in the afternoon, but for now he was waiting to hear word from Severus to see if the dark lord knew what had become of Harry.

…

"You again?"

"Can't seem to keep away can you Mr. Potter."

"He's got a code name now Doc, please use it."

"Sorry operative Paladin, now let's get you healed so you can go a floor up and get yourself in more trouble. At least H.G. is in today, she'll keep the Professor from going too wild with you."

"I'm sorry what did you call me?"

"It's you're new code-name, Paladin. Once known as magical knights, they were considered to be a paragon of chivalry, heroic champions, knight in shining armor wielding wands and swords. Rather fitting in description, especially after what you did for my daughter her first year." He whispered the last part so only Harry could hear it.

One hour and ten minutes later Doc had cleared him after checking for any additional damage, giving him two strong pain relief potions and one pepper up potion. "Paladin, you'll need to do some physical conditioning, but don't overdue it. Come and check with me later and I'll have some exercises for you to work on.

Harry nodded and followed Tonks and Arthur Weasley to the lift. "I can't stay any longer, there's a meeting. Spunky is covered by Amelia who's one of ours."

Harry blinked, that was something he hadn't been expecting. "Right, see you later then?" failing to keep the hope out of his voice.

"Don't worry son, I'll be working on your training starting tomorrow. Don't be intimidated by the Professor, he's a bit eccentric, but a true genius at what he does. Take care!" he added and then caught a lift taking him up to level nine.

Harry and Tonks grabbed a lift going to level 11.

…

_Dear Hermione, _

_I just talked to my father. There's been no word on Harry yet, but he did manage to escape the ministry. Minister Fudge is in an uproar and has mobilized half the Auror force to find him. _

_Get this, apparently Dumbledore didn't want to help Harry yesterday, according to Mum, he said that he didn't have the political capital to help him and that he'd just have to stew on his own. _

_Considering someone has been keeping us from getting a hold of Harry, and that Dumbledore instructed us not to write him in the first place makes me think there's more going on here. _

_Do you know of anything? I know Harry trusts you more than Ron, or to be more precise he knows you can keep things quiet better than Ron. If you hear from Harry please let him know that the Burrow is behind him, even if the Order isn't. _

_Stay safe! Having one of my friends missing is hard enough._

_GMW_

She walked to the Owl perch and blinked in surprise. "Hedwig! Are you all right? Have you seen Harry? Do you know where he is?" she asked quickly. Harry's owl flew over to her shoulder, nipped her ear gently and shook her head.

Ginny blinked, Harry's owl had always seemed smarter than most, but this was bordering on odd. "Would you be willing to take a letter to Hermione for me? We're trying to find Harry."

Hedwig hooted and flew back to the roost holding out her leg.

Ginny grabbed her quill and added to the bottom of the note.

P.S. Hedwig just showed up so I'm sending you the letter on her, see if she can help you find Harry. If she's willing to stay with you I know Harry would give her Bacon in the mornings when he was eating breakfast. If you can't ask her to return to the Burrow and I'll take care of her. Yes I said ask her, I know it sounds odd but she seems to understand what I'm saying, more so than any other Owl I've ever seen.

GMW

…

"Ah! Welcome, asset Spunky, Operative Paladin." The man who welcomed them was small, especially when his companion was at least six inches taller than he was, possibly more so, it was hard to tell with them sitting down. "I'm the Professor, and this is my partner H.G."

"H.G.?" asked Harry suddenly thinking of his best friend with bushy hair.

"It's a long story involving a coin toss I lost. I'll tell you some other time, for now we have a lot of work to do."

"Yes indeed," broke in the Professor, "If you'll consent to it, I have a battery of tests for you to take and based on your results I can gauge what we need to build for you, oh do you have any equipment requests?"

Tonks moved over to a chair and motioned for Harry to go ahead, "I'd like to do something about my eyes, perhaps contact lenses? And can you add charms to them like Alastor Moody's magical eye?"

"Of course, that's simple." Was the reply, "Anything else?"

"I really don't know enough to know what to request other than that." Replied Harry truthfully with a shrug, "Now you said something about some tests?"

"Yes, for these first few ones we just need you to sit here while we run some diagnostics."

Harry nodded and had a seat allowing the duo to work. "Well this is odd," said H.G. at length.

"What's odd?"

"Your magic core had a block on it, it's designed to restrain your magical signature, but…"

"But?"

"Your file says you've managed to do wandless magic before correct?"

"Yes, just earlier today why?"

"That should be impossible with a block like this in place, would you mind doing something wandless while I monitor you?"

"No not at all, Accio Book" he said as he summoned the book Tonks had picked up, earning him a glare.

He was waiting for a response but didn't get one right away so he turned to face H.G. who was staring at her diagnostic spell in disbelief. "Something a matter?"

"No, I see how it works, it's a magic suppressor, it's designed to restrict the amount of power you can channel. I'd have to wager your magical power is extremely high for you to still be able to perform wandless magic."

"How much of Paladin's magical power is being suppressed?" asked Tonks.

"I'd say his power level is at about two thirds of what it should be, he'll be casting at adult strength, not at the level you'd expect from a sixth year Hogwarts student."

"Can you release the block, but give me some kind of external suppressor so I don't give anything away?"

"First we'll take off the block but it's going to hurt, a lot."

"More than a Crucio?"

H.G. shuddered, "No, nowhere that bad."

"Than I'll be fine, please."

H.G. gave a look to Tonks and the Professor, both of whom nodded to her. She sighed and took out her wand, moving it in a complicated pattern.

Suddenly Harry felt his insides ripping apart and burning. After a few seconds his stiffened muscles relaxed, and he took a deep breath.

H.G. bit her lip, she didn't know the background of the new young operative, but to take that much pain without so much as a grunt, she didn't really want to know what his life had been like.

As he relaxed the professor retrieved a couple bracelets from a box. "Here you go Paladin, the first bracelet will suppress your power level to what you're used to, the additional bracelets will continue to suppress your magic by an additional thirty percent. You're young so right now your magic is still developing, by using the additional suppressors when training you'll build up both your magical reserves and magical power. If you do a lot of training then by the end of the summer you'll be beyond the levels of many wizards and witches."

Harry slipped both bracelets on. "Can I get more of these as I work on my magic?"

The Professor smiled, "Sure can, for now that should be more than enough. Try your wandless Magic now."

"Accio Book!" nothing Happened, he frowned and concentrated a little harder.

"Accio Book!" this time it twitched on the table, but little else. Blowing frustrated air through his teeth he focussed everything he had.

"ACCIO BOOK!" This time the book traveled to his outstretched hand, though nowhere near the speed it had done before. He took a deep breath, he actually felt the drain that caused him. "Should I be feeling tired?"

"No reason for you not to, remember you're now trying to work magic at one half of your usual level. Stop by the range later and see how your spells perform."

Harry nodded and made a note to do just that, he was interested to see how much he could make his magic develop, if he had this power before he might have been able to save Sirius.

"Now do you know what department you'll be going through?"

Spunky answered for him. "Pending his acceptance he's going to be tactical and special operations."

"Oh with that talent I'm not surprised. Okay, we'll get some equipment ready for him and I'll have it by tomorrow morning. What's his first round of training going to cover?"

"I don't know all the details yet, but I know he's going to shown proper field craft, stealth, disguise, mage sight if he has talent for it and changing his magical signature. I know with your equipment it's not necessary, but Clark is old school, he wants his people to understand how to do it on their own if they need to."

"Clark is a smart man, if you find yourself stranded without our inventions, then you have to be able to fend for yourself."

"Right, what other tests do we need to do?"

The testing continued for another two hours. When he finally left level 11 Harry had been measured in almost every conceivable way, they even took a measurement of how his hand moved when he cast basic spells. He was ready to go back to sleep but he had one more meeting to survive first.

"Level S," said Tonks and the lift began it's journey.

…

Hermione Granger was once again pacing the floor in her family's kitchen. It was starting to become a regular past-time for her, at least these last few days.

She was vexed, the evidence set before her was not something she liked. She had walked to a neighbors and tried to call the Dursley's number from there, the call went through and she spent the next minute acting like a solicitor. Then walking back to her home and trying the same thing she was unable to connect the line. Someone had tampered with their phone system. Someone who knew where she lived.

That meant it was someone from the order, and considering everything else she had seen, she was willing to bet that it was either Dumbledore or someone working on his orders. Which meant that there was more going on with Harry than they were letting on. She had pieced this conclusion from letters from Ginny and Ron, and now she desperately wanted to get in touch with her brother to warn him in some way.

There was a knock at the door, and she peeked through a window before answering it. "Hello Auror Shacklebolt, if it's really you than can you tell me what's the number?"

"Twelve," was the reply and she put the wand down she had been holding out of sight.

"Sorry sir, I just had to make sure," she started, but he held up his arm.

"No worries, Albus wants to talk to you before the Order meeting and sent me to fetch you, here touch this portkey."

She did so, hoping she'd be able to hide her suspicions and then vanished.

…

Ron was pacing in the hallway of number 12 Grimmauld place. He had been asked to attend before the order meeting, but he hadn't been let in yet.

A moment later he understood why when Hermione appeared. "Hermione!"

"Hello Ron, it's good to see you, I take it you're here for the same reason I am?"

"Yes, I think they're hoping Harry might have mentioned to us where he was going."

"Well then let's get this over with." She said and knocked on the door.

"Please come in, Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley."

"Good afternoon Headmaster," said Hermione by way of greeting, "I'm guessing you didn't call us here to give us the good news that you've found Harry, did you?"

"I'm afraid not Miss Granger, but I was hoping to get some information from you about his whereabouts."

"I'm sorry Professor, but we haven't heard from Harry since we left the Express, and even if we had, it would have only been in the strictest of confidence and we wouldn't be able to share it with anyone." Replied Ron with an awestruck but nodding Hermione beside him.

"I'm afraid that's unacceptable, Severus?"

"Legilimens!" Suddenly Hermione could feel the memories as they were sifted through, she saw herself making a phone call down the street, and then her pacing in her kitchen.

Ron saw himself trading letters with Hermione voicing his concerns, and telling her that he didn't think a single one of the letters He and Ginny had sent had gotten through.

When Snape was finished they both collapsed, their heads pounding, Hermione had her hand on her wand and drew it. "I know that was illegal professor, and I am in rights to defend myself from you."

Snape snorted, her words were strong, but her hands were shaking from the mental assault, it was doubtful she'd be able to cast anything in this condition.

"Oh do relax Miss Granger, after all this never happened. Obliviate! Obliviate!" twin spells hit Hermione and Ron and their eyes became glassy and unfocused.

"Miss Granger you and Mr. Weasley came in here to tell me you haven't heard from Harry and were worried about him. Severus was never here and no one performed legilimancy on you. Your head hurts because you bumped into each other when you were reaching for a quill to write Mr. Potter. You wanted to tell him to trust the Order and that we are trying to help him. We have his best interests at heart." He waved his wand and they both closed their eyes and fell into a sleep-like trance.

"Shouldn't you erase the memories of the suspicions they have of you Albus? It'd make life easier."

"Perhaps, but a bit of healthy suspicion won't hurt and if I do remove that it may change their behavior to the point where someone notices. For now it's enough that they trust the order is truly looking out For Harry, after all we do have his best interests at heart, it's our duty to make sure that he does the right thing for the wizarding world, whether or not he wishes too. Anything else you get from them?"

"The Granger girl has caught on with the phone charm, other than that just base suspicions."

"Very well, Severus, perhaps it's time for you to make yourself scarce and let me turn back to these two."

"As you wish Albus. I'll get back to the dark lord and let him know you haven't a clue where the brat is either."

After he left Albus put the grandfatherly smile back on his face and waved his wand again. "Oh dear are you two allright? That was a dreadful thump from when you bumped your heads together."

"Perhaps a bit of headache, or pain reliever potion would be appreciated Headmaster."

"Of course, here you go my dear." He said and handed Hermione and Ron a pain relief potion with just a drop of another potion in it, not enough for a long term affect mind you, just enough to help with the next few minutes.

"Now my dear as I was saying before you hit your heads. I need for you to write a letter to young Mr. Potter to let him know to come to the Order we are working to prove his innocence and we need him to be safe and out of harms way."

"Yes professor, that's a good idea." Said Ron his eyes a bit unfocused.

"I'll write most of it Ron, you can add something at the end," added Hermione also with a somewhat vacant expression on her face.

"Splendid, here's a piece of parchment then."

And the two quickly drafted the letter and handed it to Professor Dumbledore, who smiled and looked at both of them. "You did a wonderful job on the letter, very believable which is why I needed you two to write it, now I can't have anyone else know you were ever here, so Obliviate, Obliviate!"

Before the memory charms had faded he had Kingsley take them back to their respective homes, with no one the wiser of what had happened.

Well, almost no one…

…

Ginny had been sitting in her room looking out the window just enjoying the day, she would begin training for special operations tomorrow morning early and was looking forward to it. Her eyes wandered down near the quiditch pitch and then blinked in surprise when Ron suddenly appeared with Kingsley who let go of him and then vanished again. Curiosity peeked she grabbed her wand and made her way to the clearing.

"Ron what are you doing here?"

Almost as if drawing him out of a trance he blinked and then looked at his sister.

"What do you mean Ginny? I've been here all morning, flying around. Was Mum looking for me to do chores or something?"

Ginny's heart dropped, 'No! not Ron!' outwardly she smiled, "No Ron, she wasn't yet, but I do know she wants us to degnome the garden."

"Okay Ginny, might as well get it over with. Any word from Harry yet?"

"Not yet, I figured he'd try to get in touch with you first after all."

"Yeah, well let me know if he does get a hold of you, we need to let the Order know so they can protect him."

"Ron what about Dumbledore, weren't you telling me you thought he might be interfering with our mail?"

"Well yes, but I'm sure he has Harry's best interest at heart. After all someone has to watch out for the Boy Who Lived, and we certainly don't have the power to do it."

"You're right Ron, we don't." she agreed and walked away, quickly walking to her Room and then collapsed in tears on her bed. 'The no good bastard got Ron, I hope that Medical can reverse this' she thought to herself and she grabbed a familiar parchment.

…

To: Mr. Grey

CC: Basil, Carver, Clark, Spunky

RE: Case 98

I make this report with a saddened heart, I approached subject W after an apparent apparation to residence being escorted by AR K.S. the AR then left the grounds. Subject W had no recollection of events up to that point and exhibited an uncharacteristic mindset regarding Subject P. I believe subject W is showing signs of a forcefully subjected memory modification charm. Unknown but assumed Subject G is in same state as Subject W. Will remain in observation until further instructions. Assumed train is nogo unless otherwise informed.

FB.

…

"So operative Paladin, what do you think?"

"I think I'd be a fool to not say I'm in. I want to know what's going on with Dumbledore though. You've had him under observation, hell, Mr. Weasley left earlier saying he had a meeting to go to, as I vanished yesterday it doesn't take a genius to assume it's a meeting of the fried feathered friends."

"Triple F, I like that we'll refer to it as such from now on."

"I agree." Basil, Croaker, Charles and Clark were sitting around a table with Harry at the other end.

"So Mr. Potter, where would you fit best?"

"I think I like everything I've seen so far, but I need to kind of training I get from tactical operations."

Clark smiled, that was the reaction he had hoped for, Croaker beside him groaned, and Charles didn't say a word. "I was hoping you'd say that Paladin. I'd like to start your training tomorrow, we'll begin with tactical operations and field craft, after your first phase, I'd like you to consider Special Operations, think of it as Tactical Operations, but with added benefits."

"That sounds intriguing, I think I'd like that, would I have a different name?"

"Yes, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, for now read this book," He handed Harry a book called Occlumancy for the solid mind, One must put up barriers; To keep oneself intact.

"Once you've mastered the three types of occlumancy listed in that text you'll be cleared for more information, including some that you really want about certain field surveillance operatives." He shared a smile with Harry at that point and then asked. "Do you have any personal effects you need?"

"I'd like to get my trunk if that were possible, I left a lot of personal things, including the book you gave me in it." He said to Croaker.

Croaker made a note and nodded. "It will be sitting in your safe room by tomorrow morning."

Harry smiled and then yawned, it had been a long day. "Thank you. So what do you need from me?"

Three oaths later Harry found himself back at the safe house he had left earlier, though this time he was better armed with his borrowed wand. He didn't even bother with bed just walked to the couch and collapsed on it, asleep in seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

Unspeakable Disclaimer: We cannot confirm nor can we deny that JK Rowling has created and owns all legal rights to the Harry Potter Universe. We can neither confirm nor deny that Author Rorchach's Blot created several of the non canon characters. If we did cofirm or deny this indormation then we would have to kill you. And then who would read the story?

Special Thanks to my Beta's CassieP and KDTheRavenclaw, and the entire (5 chapters and they're still insane) group at Rorsch's Yahoo Group. Also thanks to everyone who's reviewed the story I've tried to reply to most of you but I know I've missed a few people. So you have my thanks.

Chapter 5 – In Your Eyes

The order meeting that night was loud and argumentative, and seemed to split the order into two main sides. One with the Weasleys, Moody, and Lupin seemed adamant about helping Harry in anyway necessary. The other, including Snape, Kingsley, Vance, Jones and Diggle seemed to favor researching the evidence and trying to get Potter a lightened sentence.

Arthur was starting to get frustrated, and Albus hadn't vocally taken a side yet, but he knew very well that he had wanted Harry incarcerated for a time to help make him more malleable and easily manipulated. He wished that someone would shut up Snape, the death-eater-turned-spy was going on and on about how the Potter brat had no regards for rules and should spend some time learning how tough life was. If not for years of training about being discrete he'd have hexed the slimy git by now.

As if summoned by his thoughts the floo flared to life and one Nymphadora Tonks stumbled out, tripping as she did and saved from a painful crash by a fast catch by Lupin. "Wotcher!" she said by way of greeting to everyone.

"Ahh Nymphadora, I understand you've been trying to find out where Fudge had planned to put Harry for his temporary Incarceration?"

"I have, Albus" she said through clenched teeth, how many bloody times was she going to have to ask him to refer to her by her last name. "Fudge was planning to give Harry a month and a half vacation with the dementors of Azkaban."

That got a response at the table as people erupted.

The most vocal of these was Molly Weasley. "Albus I told you to intervene! Now do you see what you might have done?"

Tonks hid her smile, she was going to enjoy part of this. "I'm afraid there's more Molly."

Though she had spoken quietly the aspect of more news made the entire room fall silent.

"Amelia had me interviewing all the Aurors who were on active duty and several of them who were on the same level as Harry had their memories erased, and I'm not talking merely obliviated, I mean completely wiped out, never seen anything like it. Amelia's assembling a team that I'm part of, but we think perhaps Fudge had been planning to let a dementor slip up and kiss Harry, but when he tried to escape decided it might be easier if he just vanished."

Arthur hid his smile behind a large frown, "Tonks are you saying that Fudge might have had Harry killed?"

"I don't think he'd go as far as killing him Arthur, but I don't rule out the chance that he's trying to break the lad, or brainwash him." At her statement the members of the order erupted in opinions.

"Order please!" For the time being we will add two operations to our normal duties, One to ascertain the whereabouts and well being of Harry Potter, and Two to gain the evidence to clear his name, or circumvent his sentence. Any evidence we can get that would show corruption on Fudge might be workable political capital so all of our ministry team should be on the look out for that, are there any other questions?

There were none.

"Very well, dismissed."

Tonks followed the Weasley family to the living room where they sat with Lupin for a bit. "Assuming that Harry is allright, I don't think we have a ghost of a chance of finding him unless he contacts his friends."

"I'll ask Ron to keep an eye out," said Arthur immediately.

"I'll talk to Hermione," said Remus, obviously distraught but wanting to do something to help the cause.

"I'll go with you Remus," said Tonks, rubbing his shoulder supportively.

"Thanks Dora," he said appreciatively earning him a shy smile in return.

Arthur saw the exchange and raised an eyebrow to his wife, Molly caught the signal and motioned to her family that it was time to go and leave the two in peace.

As they headed back to the fireplace in the kitchen Albus motioned for Arthur to stay for a moment.

"Yes Albus?" he asked slightly frostily.

"I'm sorry Arthur, I never expected Cornelius to act in this matter. I assumed it'd be a repeat of last year."

Arthur turned stiffly. "Perhaps headmaster you should try putting yourself in Harry's shoes for a moment. He's either A) Alone and hiding, B) Held against his will by Fudge, or someone who works for him, or C) Dead. Had you acted when I asked you too, or when I attempted to this matter would have been resolved. Now if you'll excuse me I have a distraught family to comfort, good day."

…

As soon as he arrived home he gathered his wife in his arms and gave her a comforting hug. "I'm sure Harry is alright Molly, I'm going to sneak into the office and see what I can dig up. Don't tell the children what Tonks said it'll only make them worry more."

Molly Weasley nodded, the events of the night before when she told the children that Harry had been arrested were bad enough. Ginny had gone to her room and didn't talk to anyone, Ron had gotten moody and worried and finally went to bed, but she heard him pacing all through the night. No she wouldn't breathe a word of this to them tonight, perhaps tomorrow.

…

Arthur appeared back on level S to the surprise of the department heads. Though he was respected as the most effective specialist, he had never bothered to come to the staff meetings.

As soon as he saw him Basil dismissed the meeting. He saw the parchment clenched in Arthur's hand and knew something was going on. Arthur caught Clark and Carver's eye and motioned for them to stay as well.

As soon as the four were the only ones in the room he cast about 5 privacy wards in rapid order. Clark blinked, normally Arthur would leave that kind of work to someone else as to not demonstrate his true level of skill, something was up. "Is Carver cleared for Case 98?" he asked as soon as the last ward went up.

When Basil nodded Arthur continued. "I take it none of you have checked your 2 ways yet?"

When they again nodded he waved his wand over his and handed copies to all three of them.

"That Bastard!" snapped Clark as he finished reading.

"You bought us some time with Sal, who's plan was that?"

"Sal?"

"Spunky doesn't fit her anymore, plus she's now in Spec-Ops, she deserves a new code-name."

"She came up with the plan and approached me with it, I okayed it and sent the briefing to Amelia about our suspicions, I know she's one of ours and I like her, but Paladin is need to know only. What do you mean Sal?"

"For Salazar, and if she came up with that plan then she really deserves it, her performance was stellar, and she let me know in front of everyone without breaking tradecraft that she thought we need to let Paladin contact his friends at some point. I was on my way back here to talk to you about it, when I stopped by my office and found this waiting for me. I'll check Ron later, and Sal is going to check on Granger later. Speaking of tradecraft we may need to accelerate our plan for Paladin and Firebrand ahead of schedule."

"What's wrong?"

"My wonderfully sneaky daughter used a brilliant ploy to smuggle one sheet of 2 way into Paladin's trunk. It's charmed so only he can see it, but when he finds out about 2 way parchments, I think he'll figure out who she is. Plus once he replies to her she'll know he's safe, and then she's going to start trying to figure out where he is, I think that they are more dangerous not knowing each other's identity than they are knowing that information."

Clark looked at Basil for guidance, and got his nod of approval. "We already discussed this while you were out, we decided that as soon as Paladin's mental shields are up to respectable levels we'd release the information to him. As far as Firebrand goes, she's already secure in that respect, you're authorized to tell her when you feel she's ready for the information."

"Thanks, I'll try to talk to her during training tomorrow, and…"

"Oh hell."

Basil looked up at Clark and realized what he was talking about. "Croaker already retrieved Potter's trunk for him. He's got it by now."

"In that case perhaps a trip to the safehouse is in order." Said Arthur calmly, Basil had to have been rattled to let the name slip like that, even if they were in the most secure place available.

…

Harry had gotten about four hours of sleep when Croaker had showed up bringing his trunk. Feeling energized from his nap he grabbed a quill and the parchment Ginny had given him, he felt more glad for it now than when he had first received the letter, because this was his chance to let someone from the outside know he wasn't dead. Before he could write anything he began thinking about it all. 'If anyone knew Ginny had a way to contact me she'd be in danger, and if I contact her she'll feel like she needs to let people know I'm alive and that will put her in danger. Perhaps I'll do this another way.' He grabbed a sheet of clean parchment.

Dear Ginny,

I don't know what's being said about me in the prophet or wireless but I wanted to get word out.

Please don't bother trying to reply to this, I can't stay where I am for very long so no owls will be able to locate me.

I want you to know the truth should anything happen to me, please consider my request to get this information out.

Two days ago I was on an outing with my Muggle guardians when we were attacked by death eaters. I do not know how they found me, or what they wanted but we dueled. After a minute they apparated out and were replaced by a group of Aurors who arrested me. Instead of setting a hearing date in a few days to give me a chance to prepare a defense I was thrown into a holding cell for several hours, then I was given the mockery of a hearing by people who are known lackeys of the Minister. I was informed, instead of expulsion, wand snapping or a fine, I was to be incarcerated in Azkaban until my trial date. I was then gleefully told by my escorts that there was a good chance I wouldn't make it to my trial with my soul intact so in desperation I attacked them. By sheer luck I managed to knock them out.

I do not know what my future will entail, I will hopefully be able to gain enough evidence to prove my innocence, and I plan to show up to my trial with said evidence. Should the proof I seek be unavailable I do not yet know my course of action.

Please do not trouble yourselves worrying about me.

Until then I remain your

Harry James Potter.

He signed the letter with a flourish and left it on the table to take with him to the department and then grabbed the book he had been given on Occlumancy.

He read the book and found himself absorbing the information just by reading it, it was as if the book itself was teaching him the information. An hour and a half later, as he finished the book a piece of parchment fell out of it. He picked it up and read.

Paladin,

I forgot to mention that your suppression bracelets also are charmed to help you absorb information from reading, I felt it was an even tradeoff for losing some of your magical ability. The information will remain even after you remove the bracelets, but you'll need to put them back on for the increased learning speed when you need it. Please keep this secret from your fellow operatives, if anyone found out we had a way to accelerate knowledge retention we'd never have any peace. Basil and Clark already know about them, Mr. Grey might know as well.

Good luck with your training.

Professor and H.G.

He smiled and made a mental note to thank them when he went back in the morning. He had just finished his first set of mental shields and was about to start on his second layer when the floo flared to life.

His instincts in overdrive, he leapt over the couch and aimed his wand at the fireplace.

"Do you reckon he's asleep? It's past midnight."

"I don't know, you shouldn't have waited for me before you came."

"You're the only one who knows the pass-code."

"Righto, Wotcher Harry, Marauders for the Win!" she whispered as loudly as she could.

Hearing the password Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Wotcher Tonks, who's with you?"

"Hello Harry, did we wake you?"

Harry bit back a sarcastic comment about how he always slept on the floor behind the couch. "No Mr. Weasley, I got up when Croaker dropped off my trunk."

"Yes, about that trunk…" Arthur took a deep breath before continuing, "I understand my daughter sent you an interesting letter."

Harry blushed, but wasn't sure why. "She didn't so much send it to me as she left it for me to read over the summer.

Arthur waved away his blush. "Don't worry about it, have you replied using it yet tonight?"

"No sir I thought about it, but then decided it was probably too large an unnecessary risk."

Arthur nodded his approval as Harry waved his hand toward the letter. "Accio letter!" nothing, Harry remembered his magic was still being suppressed. "ACCIO LETTER!" This time it worked though again the letter moved much slower than normal. "Here you go sir. After I finished writing that, I read the book on Occlumency and built my first set of shields, I was working on my second when you showed up."

Arthur read the letter and smiled, "Planned to get someone to use the copy spell on this?"

"That was the idea."

"Harry did you say you built your first set of Shields already? Didn't you just get that book?"

"Yeah Tonks, the book just seemed to speak to me about how to do it and when I finished reading it I was ready to start, sure as bloody hell beats the greasy git going clear your mind and then attacking me." The part at the end was added to cover for his blushing at the minor mis-information he was giving her.

She blinked in surprise. "Cor Blimey! That's amazing!"

Arthur sighed. "We have a great deal to discuss in the morning then Harry, for now just so you know the Order, including Dumbledore suspects that Fudge has you in his custody or you're dead. For now hold off on the letters and we'll decide what to do in the morning."

Harry nodded and yawned. "Yes sir, thanks for the warning though, I almost wrote to her."

Arthur hid a grin, 'Just wait till tomorrow' he thought as he bid Harry a good night and left with Tonks. For his part, Harry grabbed a few books and attempted to test out the learning curve on the bands until he finally fell asleep.

…

Morning came all to soon and once again Harry found himself stepping off the lift on level 11.

"Ah Agent Paladin, good to see you."

Harry looked confused. "Agent?"

"Well you don't simply fit with any other term, asset applies to field surveillance, and while you'll be learning some of their craft that's not your specialty. You're considered tac-ops, but you're much more than a standard operative, or at least you will be after your training."

The last sentence made him feel a bit ill at ease, and while the Professor failed to notice, his assistant did.

H.G. smacked the Professor lightly before speaking. "Sorry Paladin, he's just excited about getting you geared up. We're working on some magical glasses, and contacts for you but that'll have to wait. For now we've got some specialized wands."

"Wands? As in plural?"

"Yes, from what I understand you've already dueled with two wands at a time, which, by the way is quite a talent of focus. We have three special operations wands for you, as well as wand holsters for them."

She led him to a table where lay three small wands which caused him to blink in surprise as he picked one up. "They're smaller than a normal wand."

"Yes, but I assure you they're quite powerful and the smaller size works far better than you think. For one thing it's more maneuverable and thusly faster. Everyone who's had one of these ends up loving it. You won't be using them all the time, but will on most assignments where discretion is key. You won't want to use it in the presence of your headmaster, might raise too many questions." She smiled as he waved one and nothing happened.

"We have to key them into you first, safety precaution, once you're keyed in they'll work fine, but until then they might as well be skewers." She handed him three small metal cores. "I need a drop of your blood on each of these please."

"What are these made of?" he asked as he pricked his finger with the needle she had held out, and placed a drop of blood on each of the three cores. To his surprise his blood was instantly absorbed and she waved her wand over his hand to heal the prick.

"Specialty metal the Professor invented. It conducts magic better than any wood, and isn't fragile like crystal, it's really the ideal material to build a wand with, or would have been if not for these." She placed each metal core in an open slot where the handle ended. The wands all merged and left no trace that any opening was ever there.

"So what are these wands made out of, and what's their core material?"

"They're all made of carbon-fiber, think of it as fake tree, the Professor and I came across it in a muggle sporting goods shop. Because it's base element is carbon it conducts magic almost as well as a diamond crystal would. Between the metal, and the carbon-fiber there is no need for a core material, however should you manage to acquire something we can always incorporate them into extra wands for you."

"Extra wands? How many wands do operatives carry anyway?"

H.G. shrugged. "Don't honestly know, I know that Spunky, the field asset you were with yesterday has four, one normal wand, and three specialty ones. One of those I'm proud to say has one of her own hairs as a core, it made the wand one of the best transfiguration specialty wands ever seen if I do say so myself."

"And you do," added the Professor as he joined them. He handed Harry a beautiful blue cloak. "Now your cloak has all the standard unspeakable features, basic spell shielding, emergency port-key, built in disillusion, color changing, obscuring and temperature charms. I also took the liberty of adding a few more to the list for you, magical signature suppressor make it harder for certain elements to track you during your school year when you can't hide or disguise your magical signature for fear of bringing extra attention to yourself. Notice me not charms, to help you blend in better in a crowd, it won't make people ignorant to your presence, just uninterested. Extra charmed pockets you could hide several trunks worth of equipment in here if you wished too, couple others it's listed on a list in one of the pockets."

He then handed Harry a watch. "I understand these keep breaking on you."

Harry smiled. "You got me a watch! Thank you!" he stripped off the one he was wearing, that was still displaying the time when he was attacked after he had slammed it into the ground while ducking a curse.

The Professor smiled grandly. "I think you'll find this more than just a watch, there are several useful additions to it, I understand you have a map known as the Marauder's map? This watch has a similar function, in your honor the Marauder's watch." He tapped it and it projected a large area with dots moving around it, each with it's own identification tad. "No map for here as that would be a security risk, and it's got a limited range of about 30 feet in every direction from where it is, but it should prove its worth for sneaking around a hostile building. There's also a built in sneak-a-scope that will vibrate when someone lies to you, it's something of a magical lie-detector. Also a programmable port-key function, and it works as a communications device like two-way mirrors. Standard security charms which means only you can remove it, it can't be pulled, spelled or broken off. There's also one last charm on it, but it's not finished yet, we're still researching the spell. Oh and it tells time very well, as well as date, lunar cycle, solar cycle and astronomical cycle assuming you ask it what constellation you need information on."

Harry was almost speechless first the wands, then the cloak and now the watch. He was taking deep breaths to keep from hyperventilating.

"Now on to your trunk," said H.G. with a smile.

The trunk turned out to be a multi chambered one similar to the one Alastor Moody had, but Harry's was even nicer, with 7 locks. One standard storage area, two enlarged storage areas, one secure storage area (suitable for holding prisoners should the need ever arise), one dueling room, one library, and one living quarters. The best part was that the locks were keyed into his magical signature and disguised as decorations on the lid so all anyone would ever see was a standard looking trunk. It was also charmed to shrink and become feather light on command, no magic necessary.

"I don't know how to say thanks enough," he stammered as he was outfitted with all his gear, Trunk stored away in one of the pockets of his new Cloak, and wand holsters with new wands strapped to his arms. "Not just for all this gear, but for the extra charms on the suppression bands. Will all books be like that?"

The Professor chuckled at his look of disappointment when H.G. said it wouldn't. "I'm sorry there are certain books here that are written to teach you the material as you learn, that's why it only took you an hour and a half to master the art. However they will still help with other books, you'll still read faster, remember everything and you'll process the information much more quickly than normal, it just won't be quite as fast or easy as the occlumancy book was. However, we do have a few other books for you to read that will be the same way."

"Now onto other communication devices, here is a pad of two-way parchments. It allows messaging more secure than owl post, you write the recipient here," he pointed to the top line, "here you write if you want anyone else to get it, and here you write what the message is about. Then you write your message, it will appear on the recipients page, after you tap it with your wand, which will also erase the message." Harry nodded as he took the pad, it seemed awfully familiar somehow, but that could wait until later.

The Professor then gave him a standard two-way mirror, and then gave him an invisible quill, what it wrote was invisible until you applied a specific charm, good for passing messages on paper in an insecure setting.

As they were finishing up getting him equipped the Professor took his own wand and cast several complicated and very secure privacy and warding spells.

"Now, Mr. Potter, yes I know who you are, both H.G. and I follow tradecraft, but we're cleared for everything. After all we'd know by the tests we ran. Now, there are certain other helpful items we can make or already have, but we need someone to field test them. If you'd be willing to sign up for that and be willing to write a report on how it performed afterwards we'd be willing to design, and or build any device you can dream up any time."

Harry blinked. "Why me?"

"You're one of the few with enough magical power to get out of any problems a faulty device may cause, and you're new enough that you aren't scared of our willingness to integrate muggle technology with magic. Usually technomancy is an American thing, not a European. We feel that the US InterBUn has the jump on us and we want to catch up."

Harry was wary about the faulty devices, but the thought of his own personal Development team… "As long as any device I take to the field passes lab testing first."

H.G. smiled at the Professor who grudgingly handed her a galleon. "We accept your terms, but we would like you to be on the look-out for any prospective R&D talent."

The three shook on it and Harry smiled. "I'll give you a hint, there are two brothers, twins actually named Weasley, they'd make a good addition to your team."

The Professor smiled, "Oh the pranksters, I've heard of them from other people. We'll have to look into it, I guess I should try and find some help for poor Marcus as well."

"Marcus?"

"Oh you haven't met him, he's head of research, he's mainly on the 9th level as that's what the MoM thinks we do." Harry thought of Hermione but didn't say anything yet, he'd have to ask her about her career plans later.

He cancelled the privacy wards and nodded to Harry. "Well Agent Paladin, I believe they're waiting for you on S level"

"Thank you Professor, I look forward to working more with you." They traded a knowing look and he headed towards the lift.

…

Harry stepped off the lift and felt the familiar buzzing of the wards.

"Good morning Paladin, I heard from Mr. Grey that you've managed to master Occlumancy?"

"I had some help from the Professor and H.G., but yes that should no longer be a problem for me."

"Do you mind if we test your ability?"

"I would expect nothing less." He replied evenly.

"Legilimens!" The attack didn't come from Basil, but from behind where Clark had been waiting.

Harry didn't even blink, but merely looked at Basil and commented very calmly. "That was very Slytherin of you."

A moment later Clark gasped and ended the attack. "That was amazing, you did all that last night?"

Harry nodded, as Basil asked Clark to describe the shields.

"I counted at least four layers, I assume the area I entered first was just an intruder alarm? It was set up like a library for easy access."

Harry nodded. "Filled with pointless memories and thoughts mainly concerning Quidditch or classes. No matter how hard you try to start or what kind of memory you go after I have every range of emotion on that layer, happy, sad, angry, worried, defensive, melancholy; everything."

"The next layer was set up inside there and it was like the end of the library with a sturdy door, the door was the only way through, I assume it's normally locked, but you let me in?"

"Yes, that's the next level it's also filled like the first layer, it's secure enough that even an accomplished legilimens would need several seconds to break through. It would give me enough time to get the real layers ready."

"I only hit the first of your real layers, and couldn't get through, it was set up like a cross between a muggle prison and a castle fortress. Huge stone walls, barbed wire all over everything a large moat with sharks, and a sign that says Warning, do not enter, beware of Dragon, trespassers will be shot, survivors will be beaten, remains will be fed to Dragons."

Basil chuckled at the description of the sign. "And then?"

"Couldn't get past that, I take it the dragons and guards are mental agents?"

"Yes, if they catch you in the mind they can inflict mental damage on you, depending on how powerful your mind is the damage can carry over physically. I still have five more layers to go."

"Five? I only saw traces of one more layer."

Harry smiled. "I combined a bit of muggle sneakiness with the most advanced methods of occlumancy the book listed. If you manage to break through the next level there's another one similar to the entry library, then another door, then another fortress, then another library then a single door. If you go through the door you'll find yourself surrounded by my worst memories and you'll be trapped there unless I let you out. My most protected memories were actually in the library before that all the books are the precious memories, but they're hidden behind a set of fake books."

Basil's mouth was hanging open. Clark just stared in shock. "How hard are they to maintain?" asked Basil at length.

"The library levels are nothing, it's just catalogued and stored thoughts, once I've sorted them they stay there, random daily actions are in the first library, everything secret or private gets sent down. It takes me about 20 seconds to bring up all the fortress levels, and the last level is always there, I put all my bad memories in it so I don't have to dwell on them. The fortress levels are hard to maintain though, if you had pushed me I'd have had to take off my suppressor bands to have enough magical energy to maintain them. It's enough usually to just put up the fortress, I don't think anyone including Snape or Tommy could get past the first layer."

"Then why repeat it?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm paranoid, I think Dumbledore is a legilimency master, I know Snape is. I didn't want to leave a possibility that they'd be able to get any key information from me. I only use one fortress until they get into the second fake library, then I bring the second one up, and it's nasty. I designed it so that if it comes up whoever tried to get in my mind is going home hurt. But it takes a lot to maintain so it's a last-ditch defense."

Basil smiled. "You sound like a paranoid friend of mine."

"Does he talk about constant vigilance?"

"How well do you know Alastor?"

"Not that well, I knew his impostor pretty good though, spent the better part of a year getting instructed by him, right up until the point where he sent me to Wormtail to resurrect Voldemort and then tried to kill me."

"Alastor is one of very few who knows about us and isn't one of us. I don't remember how he found out, but he's trustworthy, at least as trustworthy as anyone who isn't involved anyway. He's helped me a couple times when I had to go out in the field, though that was ages ago."

"Speaking of trustworthy, I just gave the Professor a recommendation for two pranksters who have a pretty good instinct for Development."

"Fred and George? Asset Firebrand has mentioned them a few times. Now that your occlumancy shields are up to task," Clark snorted at Basil's understatement, "I think we can brief you on a few more things. But first tell me who do you think asset Firebrand is."

Harry put his analytical skills to the test and held up his hand. "One it's obviously someone in Gryffyndor based on how much you know about my occlumancy lessons with Snape." His eyes narrowed, "and it has to be someone close to me because the Professor knew about the Marauder's Map." He was missing something, something obvious he was sure of it… Two way… TWO WAY! 'The bloody letter Ginny gave me was some kind of two way parchment, but that means, no bloody way.' "Ginny?"

"Harry?" He whirled around to look into a pair of very familiar brown eyes.

"Ginny?"

"Harry!"

…

**Two Minutes Prior**

Asset Firebrand was sitting in Field Operation Prep Room waiting for Asset Spunky, it was to her surprise when the door opened to admit her father.

"Dad?"

"Hello Firebrand, Sal is on special assignment so I'll be handling your morning brief and training. And I took care of things with your Mum, she still thinks you're getting tutoring, which was a brilliant cover by the way."

"What do you mean? I am getting tutored, it's just tutoring in combat and not muggle studies and potions." She said with a plain smile. "Now what's going on? Where is Spunky and who is Sal?"

"Sal is Spunky's new code-name, I'll explain it to you later, she's on assignment regarding the letter you sent up last night."

"Checking on Subject G?"

"Yes, with Howler."

She snorted at the code-name "Who came up with that? Why not just use Moony?"

"To well known to 98, have to keep everything as secret as you can, now as to why I'm here, since we brought you in on operation 98 we decided to bring you in all the way, and you'll be meeting you're new Partner. Operative Paladin."

"The new guy I've heard people talking about? Is he as good as they say?"

"I think you'll find that Paladin will be well suited to you as a partner. He's being trained in Tactical and Special Operations, you've been Field Surveillance and are being trained in Special Operations. Basil Clark and I thought you two would make a good team eventually. We were originally going to wait until later in your training to introduce you but situations like the one from last night pushed the time-table forward. Do remember he's just a new recruit so don't expect him to know all the protocol or all the codes we use down here. Also try to remember that you are both under field-craft…" He was interrupted as the lift doors opened.

Ginny stepped out just in time to see a very familiar head full of messy black hair and heard a voice she new very well. "Harry?"

"Ginny?"

"Harry!" She cried happily and ran over to give him a hug. "We've been worried about you! What happened, why are you here? What's going on?"

He blushed lightly and patted her on the back. "A lot's been going on Ginny, but then you could say the same couldn't you?" he had wanted to sound scolding, but it came off at best as a mild chiding.

Basil chuckled and cleared his throat bringing attention back to himself. "Asset Firebrand meet operative Paladin. Operative Paladin meet asset Firebrand. Now that the introductions are over with you two have until lunch to chat."

"I'll take them to one of the secure rooms, that way they don't have to worry about trade-craft for now."

…

"Ready Remy?"

"You bet Dora, you know the Granger's Address right?"

"Yeah, one thing Remy, promise me that you'll ignore how strange my questions sound please? It's the assignment Amelia has me on."

"Sure thing Dora, let's go." She cast a quick disillusion spell on them and then they disapparated.

With a slight pop the two appeared in a muggle neighborhood. Glancing around and confirming that there was no one watching, Tonks again waved her wand, making them visible.

They both took a moment to take in their surroundings, they were standing in the middle of a very nice Muggle neighborhood. 'This is so different from the neighborhood the Dursley's live in.' Thought Tonks. She glanced at Remus and saw he had the same expression on his face.

They walked to a large two story home and Tonks used the brass knocker on the door. A moment later Hermione's faced popped in the window and the door opened a crack.

"If you are who you claim to be, which Marauder is with you?"

"Moony."

"How did I figure out what you are?"

"Snape gave an essay to the class hoping someone would correlate the information, that and my boggart."

"Hello Professor Lupin, Auror Tonks."

"Hermione, I haven't been your professor in two years, call me Remus, please?"

"And it's just Tonks," added the metamorphmagus with wild hair.

"Okay, Profes… I mean Remus. What brings you two here?"

"How up to date on the Harry situation?" asked Tonks seriously.

"Well, I know that he's missing, and I'm hoping he contacts me soon, I need to let him know that the Order is trying to help him and they want to keep him safe."

"I'm glad, that makes our job easier," said Remus, "I'm hoping it won't take too much convincing to get Harry to Headquarters, I know it's rather daunting. But Professor Dumbledore thinks it's the safest place for him."

"Yes Professor Dumbledore only has Harry's best interests at heart, and he just wants to protect him." She blinked for a moment, for some reason she wasn't sure where that thought came from. "No, that's not what I wanted to tell him. I wanted to let him know someone has been preventing us from contacting him."

The expression on her face wasn't lost on Remus, nor Tonks, Remus was looking at Hermione oddly so he missed the fact that Tonk's eyes narrowed as she pulled out a pad of parchment and began to scribble notes on it.

"Miss Granger, I need to know everything that has happened to you since the day before yesterday."

"Let's see, I got mail from the Burrow asking me if I had managed to contact Harry yet, and I had been looking into some wizarding law books because Ginny and Ron thought someone might be intercepting Harry's mail owl post. I replied with what I had found. Not too long after I sent that letter another Erol came in with a letter letting me know that Harry was arrested, I think I went to sleep crying." She began to wring her hands in anxiety.

Tonks saw this and gently placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "It's okay Miss Granger, take a moment if you need it. Don't worry we'll find Harry."

"Thank you," she replied with a sniffle. "The next day I had to take some thing to a neighbor and just out of curiosity I tried Harry's number and it went through. I pretended to be a solicitor," she added with a hint of a grin, "then I ran back home and tried it and it wouldn't connect. I remember thinking that someone had blocked my connection to Harry, then I… I…"

She blinked. Hermione Granger had always been organized, even before Hogwarts she had kept an organizer only as a formality. Her parents let her take care of their schedules when she was home for the summer because she could do so with absolute perfection in timing and rarely needed to consult the actual books. Her almost-brother always referred to her affectionately as the smartest witch in Hogwarts. She could quote you the answers for the tests she had studied for from her first year. She could tell you the last time she had pumpkin juice and how much of it she had. She could even tell you what page of what book she had read at breakfast the week before. For once though, her memory failed her, she remembered pacing around her living room, and the next thing she knew she was sitting on a couch right before her parents came home.

"I remember being really nervous about something, but it's gone Professor! I'm missing what I did for two hours yesterday!" She began to hyperventilate, Tonks sent a glance to Remus who proceeded to pull out his wand and waved it over the distraught young witch's head while Tonks pulled her in a gentle comforting hug, and patted her on the head.

"It's all right Miss Granger, you were worried and nervous about your best friend, I'm sure you just sat down on the couch and perhaps passed out from worry. Wouldn't you say that's likely Remy?"

"Quite possible, I remember when we were in school the time James was so worried about asking Lily to a dance that he worried himself into sleep. The next thing you knew it was an hour later and he missed the chance, as she had already come back to the dorms and went to bed." He snickered at the memory and the sound of laughing gave Hermione a sense of comfort.

After she had calmed down a bit she continued her story, "After I woke up my parents came home, I told them what was happening and they told me they'd look around in the Muggle world. Then I got a letter from Ginny that had something about how her father had an argument with the Headmaster about the best way to protect Harry. And she sent it with Hedwig! I sent her a quick reply because mum and dad wanted to drive around Muggle London in case Harry was hiding out as a Muggle. After it got too dark to see we came home and I went to bed. Then this morning I got up, checked the daily profit for news but didn't see anything. I did see that they're trying to discredit Harry again. Is there anything we can do about that?"

Remus smiled at her gently. "I'll look into what we can do. For now just try and stay relaxed, Harry will try and contact one of his friends soon, so I expect either you or Ron will here from him shortly. Do let us know as soon as you hear from him okay?"

"Sure thing Professor, anything to help Harry. He's the closest thing I have to a brother."

Tonks gave her one last sisterly hug and told her not to worry. "We've got the best Aurors looking for him, including myself, and most of us work for the Order so he'll be safe."

They smiled and left. As soon as they were out the door Remus looked at Tonks with pain in his eyes. "I couldn't tell her Dora, I can barely accept the fact that Harry might be, might be…"

Tonks put an arm around the shaking werewolf and pulled him into a chaste hug. "It's okay Remy. If he were dead we would know, Mr. Potter had a monitoring device on him that shows what his medical state is. Its part of the manacles he had on, we know if they come off, and we know if the person wearing them suddenly goes into medical danger. Unfortunately the same charms that work to monitor the medical situation conflict with tracking charms so we can't use it to know where Harry is, all we know for sure is that he's still alive.""

"But you didn't mention this at the meeting."

"Too many ears there, I trust you though Remy." She said with a smile.

"Thanks Dora," he smiled, and then frowned, "I ran a scan on her."

"She was obliviated yesterday."

"How did you know?"

"Auror remember? She's displaying all the classic signs of a forced memory modification charm."

"So what do we do about it? Who do you think did it?"

"I don't know yet, for now we keep our eyes and ears open and our mouths shut."

"Should we tell Albus?" asked the Werewolf earning him a raised eyebrow. He held up his hands. "I'm not feeling all that generous with him after what he's done to Harry lately, I just didn't want to get you in trouble with him."

She gave him a bright smile, "Don't worry getting in trouble is what I do best, I say we just tell him that we asked her to contact the order if she hears anything."

He smiled back; and arm in arm they apparated back to Grimauld place.

…

Harry sat opposite Ginny. Neither had spoken since they had entered the room about 5 minutes ago.

"So" they both began at the same time, "Sorry, you go first."

As if a magic spell had broken the ice they began to laugh, laugh at the situation, the impossibility of it all, and just laugh because it felt good to laugh.

"Well that explains how you got that parchment into my trunk." Said Harry as the laughter subsided.

"Harry, I'm sorry for spying on you and everyone else but…"

She stopped when Harry held up his hand. "I meant what I wrote in that letter Ginny, you really have been a better friend than I have, secret life and all. But let's start at the beginning, how did you end up working as an Unspeakable?"

"Well, it began right after my first year at Hogwarts. I was having horrible nightmares about what I had done, it was getting pretty bad. Finally dad took me to see a friend of his," she smiled at the memory. "I fought with him about it, he finally won me over when he sat me down and said simply, love, I don't like to see so much pain. And I knew he wanted to help me, not push me away like he was doing in my nightmares. The friend turned out to be an Unspeakable, and they helped keep me awake and alive, after a while I was finally able to sleep without the horrible nightmares again. During the entire summer while my brothers thought I had locked myself in my room I was going with dad to the department and meeting with counselors and magical specialists." She paused for a moment, "I just wanted to be that complete again. I had felt so tainted after Tom got through with me." She shuddered.

Harry Saw her shudder and offered her a hand, she grabbed it like a lifeline, squeezing it so tightly that he was planning a trip to medical when this was over for some skelegro.

"While I was there they asked me to keep tabs of what happened at Hogwarts, so I once again found myself in possession of a diary, though this time I knew that it had charms on it. Anyway by the end of my second year I was starting to feel better about myself. But it was during that summer where I really began to become me again. I remember my magic finally seemed to return to what it had been before the whole diary/chamber thing. It was as if my magic had reached out from the inside to restore me to who I was.

"Anyway, by summer before third year they started training me for field surveillance, nothing major, just some minor surveillance charms, as well as a few stealth ones. I'm technically still not up to a standard field surveillance asset. I train hard while I can, but I only get a couple hours here a day before having to sneak back home. Youth does have it's advantages though, now that I know how and what to look for, I've become quite good at what I do. Dueling though, I'm still weak at."

"You're not that weak Ginny, you were one of the best members of the DA."

She favored him with a smile, "I know Harry, but that was with other students, we're dealing with adults who've had their magic mature and further years to refine it. I can give as good as I can, but at the end of the day, I don't have what it takes to be tactical. Clark told me as much when he offered me a position with special operations."

"Then I don't understand why he took me for Tactical Operations, I'm only a year ahead of you."

She snorted. "Have you seen your test results from the range? You're already casting combat spells at high levels. The only thing you don't have is knowledge yet. I know you've got instincts I saw them a month ago, I know you've got power I've seen what you can do." She blushed as she finished ranting and then apologized. "I'm sorry Harry, I'm a little jealous of you. I wanted to move to Tactical so I could learn more combat spells so the next time we had to fight Death Eaters I'd actually be able to help instead of twisting my ankle like the little girl I am." The last line was added bitterly.

"Gin, look at me." He commanded and once again brilliant green met deep brown, once he had her attention he spoke very clearly and calmly. "Ginny I was a fool for charging off into battle like that, I almost got you and everyone else killed. Sirius did die because of a poor judgement call I made. You went with me into danger knowing better than anyone how ill-equipped and under trained we were to deal with the situation didn't you?"

"Yes, part of my training was learning about the death eaters for easier identification when I'm out spying," she wanted to look away but something in his gaze kept her from breaking eye contact, the most she managed was to release his hand from it's death-grip.

"You didn't act like a little girl, you acted like a trained operative willing to step into the line of fire knowing it might be a one way trip. I promise to show you everything I learn. After all didn't Basil say something about partners?"

"Yes he did, that was my plan anyway." Came a new voice from behind them.

Harry acted instinctively, both arms swinging around summoning the wands from the holsters to his hands in a flash of movement. Ginny ducked low under Harry's arms as they were swinging around and brought out her wand in a smooth drawl.

Clark clapped his hands in glee. "I knew this would work, you two are connected from past experiences already, and a bond of friendship already established, I'll make you two into the best special operatives that InterBUn has ever seen!"

They looked at each other than back at Clark and muttered almost as one, "What?"


	6. Chapter 6

Fudge's Disclaimer: Despite the boy-who-lived's obvious attempt at attention, J.K. Rowling, you-know-who owns the Harry Potter Universe. And this Rorchach's Blot fellow he keeps talking about is not back!

Special Thanks to my Beta's CassieP and KDTheRavenclaw, and the entire group at Rorsch's Yahoo Group, mind you that sanity is optional with that lot. Also thanks to everyone who's reviewed the story, for those who remind me to update, I'm up to chapter ten being completely written.

Chapter 6 So Much to Say

Hermione Granger paced around her room. Despite the assurances she had gotten from Professor Lupin and Auror Tonks, she knew that something was wrong. She also realized that there was something they hadn't told her. Her pacing was in part to help her calm down, and partly, she was honest enough to admit, to work off her fear. She had lost two hours, what had happened during that time, what if someone did something to her and she was blocking the memory. It's almost like post traumatic stress syndrome' she thought remembering an article she had read on the subject. When a person experienced a severe traumatic instance, the mind blocked out the memory to protect itself. If that's the case, just what happened to me yesterday?

"Who can I trust? Dumbledore? He might have been keeping information from Harry. Auror Tonks and Professor Lupin have enough to do trying to find Harry. Ron? Maybe I can ask some one at the Burrow, but I don't have an owl." As if summoned by her very thoughts a beautiful snowy white owl flew through her window, and the arrival brought a sense of peace she hadn't been able to grasp all morning. She stifled the urge to laugh in relief.

"Hedwig! How did you know I needed you? Harry was right! You are smarter than an average owl, aren't you girl?"

In response Hedwig flew over to Hermione's shoulder and nipped one of her fingers very lightly.

"I know you're Harry's owl and friend, but would you be willing to carry a letter for me to the Burrow?"

Hedwig hooted and flew over and landed on her table, then looked at her as if to ask "What are you waiting for?"

This time Hermione did laugh, "Thanks girl, it's one less thing on my mind and perhaps I can get help faster."

_Dear Ron, Ginny, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and whoever might else might read this:_

_  
Please help me! I'm not in any serious danger or trouble, at least I don't think I am. You see, I seem to have lost a couple hours yesterday. I remember walking around and the next thing I know I'm getting up from my couch. I know with some people (Magical and Muggle alike) often get busy and simply have a large amount of time pass them by, but I assure you that for me that is not the case._

_I'm not sure what it was, but I think something happened yesterday. There is a muggle mental disorder called post-traumatic stress syndrome, it happens when people witness or experience some kind of horrible event. When it happens people forget what happens to them, the memory is buried to protect the person. I don't want to worry my parents, but I think that something happened yesterday and I'd like you to check me over. _

_  
Thank you,  
Hermione Jane Granger_

She quickly penned her name and Hedwig, sensing her urgency, took the folded parchment in her beak and flew off.

With little else to do now she grabbed a book and began reading. It might have been more productive if she wasn't jumping at every little creak the house made.

…

"What?"

He chuckled, they weren't expecting that.

"You two have excellent instincts, and while it's true that you just don't have the raw power Firebrand, you have a certain finesse when you duel, more so lately. Trying to redeem yourself after a rather poor showing?"

She glared at him but nodded. He smiled, both because she readily admitted that she had a lot to learn, and because Harry immediately began to defend her. He held up his hand before he could speak. "That being said, you didn't perform horribly, especially against the kind of odds you were up against. Now I want you two to start training so get your butts over to level 15." Saying this he stepped into the first lift; they had to wait a few seconds for the next one to arrive.

They stepped onto the lift and began speaking after a quiet pause.

"So, Firebrand huh?"

Ginny blushed and nodded. "It is fitting for me after all. Almost as much as yours, I'd say."

It was Harry's turn to blush. "Blame it on my saving people thing."

"Since I was one of those people I think it's the perfect name, I've always said you were a knight in shining armor, now it's just magical armor."

Harry groaned as she teased him a bit more as they exited the lift on level 15. Waiting for them were Clark, Basil, Arthur Weasley, and a fourth person they didn't recognize. She looked to be around the age of a very young grandmother. Her sculpted features and aristocratic demeanor vaguely reminded them of Fleur Delacour. Her hair was an elegant mix of blond and silver and was pulled back into a no-nonsense ponytail. She had an air of superiority about her, but the warm smile she graced them with settled any unease they might have otherwise felt.

"This is one of the most secure rooms we have. For the purpose of this meeting we will be using your true names only. Our guest has no desire to learn your code-names, so she won't recognize you if she meets you in the field and you are disguised. Before I begin the introductions are you two okay with this?"

Harry looked at Ginny who looked back at him, the two shared an unspoken conversation done completely with facial expressions and eye contact. As one they turned back and nodded.

Arthur sighed and passed a Galleon over to Clark who was smirking. Basil just rolled his eyes, while Ginny gave her father a raised eyebrow. "You two just cost me a galleon, I hope you know."

Ginny snickered, and Harry looked horrified. "I'm sorry Mr. Weasley, I'll make it up to you. Here, take this." He tried to hand him a galleon, which caused the woman to laugh gently as Basil groaned and handed Clark several Galleons.

Clark smiled at Harry, "Keep it up kid and I won't have to work anymore."

Arthur gave Harry a smile and accepted two galleons from Basil as well. "Not to worry son, you just made up for it with interest."

Deciding it might be better to just shut up and see what was going to happen, Harry smiled and nodded and didn't say a word.

Ginny glared at her father for a moment. "Where did you come up with a galleon to bet anyway? I didn't even know they paid you."

Arthur chuckled, "Of course they paid me. I only bring home 3,000 galleons a year from the ministry. How on earth did you think I paid for Hogwarts for all you kids? All the money came from a savings trust I set up from the money I got paid from here. The rest of it helps supplement the food budget at the Burrow. I love Molly dearly, but even with her frugal shopping feeding all the mouths we have would have been beyond what I make at Misuse of Muggle Artifacts."

"Then why aren't they paying me? It's bad enough they have me spying on my friends, but I have to do it for free?"

Basil chuckled at this and Arthur gave her a wan smile, "Your pay is going into a trust fund that you'll have access to when you turn 16. I didn't want you to suddenly have money as it would raise too many eyebrows."

"I can live with that, but I want to go on record again" she said emphasizing the last word, "that I still don't feel comfortable reporting back on my friends, even if one of them works for you now."

She put her hands on her hips, and to her father's immense pleasure gave Basil the "Weasley Glare."

"I take it this is your daughter then, Arthur?" asked the woman, finally speaking for the first time. She chuckled at Basil's uncomfortable shifting under the glare he was receiving from Ginny.

"Yes, this is Ginevra, our youngest. Temper like her mums." He added with a gentle smile.

The woman grinned, "How is dearest Molly, and the rest of your family Arthur?"

"Molly is well, on my case of course about helping young Harry. My youngest boy Ron was subject W in the letter I sent to you."

"Oh dear, I suppose he is up to his old tricks again. I'm surprised he hasn't talked to Nicholas yet."

"No offense to him, but Dumbledore is being extremely private about things now. Too much happened that was out of his control when your counterpart escaped. The twins are doing very well with their new joke shop, Basil mentioned that the professor is interested in them. You've heard Percy on the wireless, so I'll not say anymore on that subject. My oldest two are doing well in their professions, and are enjoying their lives."

"My, at the rate you're going we'll have half the family working for the department. That should be enough leverage to get you a raise I would assume?" she asked jokingly as Basil almost choked. "Oh relax Basil, I'm not overstepping, I'm only joking. Surely I am allowed some amusement?"

"My lady, you are allowed whatever you wish."

Harry and Ginny traded another look that clearly said, "What the blazes is going on here?"

"I think we've been vague enough to confuse our two young apprentices, wouldn't you say?"

"I think it's time we introduce you my lady."

"As you wish Basil."

Arthur handled the introduction, "Harry, Ginny, this is Lady Perenelle Flamel, head of the International Bureau of Unspeakables, charms, transfiguration and wandless magic mistress, and your Godmother Harry."

Harry's eye grew as big as saucers, "Godmother?"

"Yes mon coeur, I was very close to your mother. She was very much like a daughter to me. In truth I am probably closer to being your grandmother than your godmother." She laughed, it was to Harry very melodic. "Though in all honesty that would be more like great-great- great, well you get the idea, grandmother."

"Can I call you grand-mère" he asked, feeling uncharacteristically shy, remembering what he had once overheard a little girl refer to an older woman escorting her. The two had obviously come from the Channel Ferry and had not even noticed him. Of course he had been hiding from Dudley's gang at the time so there was a chance that they just hadn't seem him.

He was pulled into a gentle embrace before released with a smile. "But of course mon coeur. Now you, my dear, you have a fiery spirit. It is good to see that even with the current darkness the youth of your country haven't all given in to despair. For now let us adjourn to somewhere more private to talk. Monsieur Fantôme, I will return your daughter to you in five hours. I know her mother worries so do tell her she is with friends. As for you mon cher coeur, you will stay with me for a while. I never have had the chance to get to know the young man who is my Godson, and I feel this is a perfect opportunity. Basil, I'll have him floo back for his training. Is everything in order?"

"Yes my lady. We'll set up the standard secure terminal?"

"Oui, I shall be in daily contact. As for this new development, keep me informed on his movements." The distaste in her voice left no room for doubt whom she was referring to. "Come along you two, we shall be spending time at my home with Nicholas. In fact, Arthur, since I will already be working with my godson on wandless magic, I'd like to teach your daughter a few things as well. I would hope that Nicholas and I would have a few things to teach these two."

Arthur's eyes grew wide in amazement, and nodded so fast his head was a blur. Perenelle Flamel was a legendary witch, and widely considered, at least by those who really knew her, as one of the most powerful magic users since Merlin himself. The fact that she hid herself from the public eye meant she was known for little more than being the lovely wife of Nicholas Flamel, the legendary Alchemist and Potions master. For her to offer their tutelage to his daughter was a rare honor; he would be a fool to refuse the offer. "I would be honored, my lady, for you to teach my daughter."

Perenelle smiled and patted Ginny on the arm.

"Madame Flamel?"

"Non, ma chérie, grand-mère to you as well."

"Yes ma'am," she replied.

"Oh Arthur, you've trained them so well."

"More Molly than myself Lady Flamel."

She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and then ushered her two new charges out towards the secure floo connection. Until the new secure one was set up, they would have to use the one at headquarters.

A few minutes later Basil, Arthur, and Clark were in Basil's office enjoying a bit of Clark's latest bottle of 1871 firewhiskey when Croaker joined them.

He smiled when he saw their drink and accepted the glass he was offered. "What did I miss?"

Arthur grinned and toasted Basil. "Oh, not much."

…

Albus Dumbledore looked at his current project with a frown, and made a mental note. When Harry Potter wanted something broken it stayed broken. The locator that had been made using young Harry's blood, taken during one of his frequent visits to the hospital wing, was sitting in front of him. It was one of the most powerful tracking devices ever created. It was the pride of his collection of rare magical tracking devices. It was a one of a kind magical device that he had made when he was younger with help from his partner Nicholas back before they had worked with dragon blood. It was able to track a person's magical signature to any point in the world no matter what wards or blocks were in place. It currently was shattered beyond recognition and refused to obey any repairing spells.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while he studied the remains of his prized device.

The worst part was that if, and that was a very large if, even if he managed to repair the device, it had released the bit of blood that acted as the catalyst that allowed him to track young Harry no matter his whereabouts when it shattered. It would be as useless as the only device he had managed to repair, a device which tracked unique wand signatures. He had Harry's on file naturally, but it was useless considering the fact that the wand in question was currently in the hands of the ministry awaiting Mr. Potter's trial.

At least a few things had gone his way. He had had a little chat with Cornelius and convinced him to make sure that Harry's sentence would have him stuck to Dumbledore's side. His little tantrum aside, the boy had always looked to him like a grandfather after all. And, he had managed to write Harry a fake letter using his two best friends as unwilling pawns. The supreme mugwump of the Wizengamot didn't really like to go around modifying the memories of his students, but this was in the interest of the common good.

Now if he could only find young Mr. Potter and get him back under control. Normally his aunt and uncle fit that bill nicely, but perhaps he'd have to use some type of memory charm, or mental ward on the boy, after all Voldemort must be defeated, and against wizards that powerful and that evil the ends would always justify the means.

…

Harry and Ginny stood in shock at the sight.

This is way more than a bloody house' thought Harry in awe.

Ginny just stared. It wasn't nearly as large as Hogwarts, but the country manor that Madame Flamel had brought them to rivaled the old castle in sense of grandeur.

And what a view' Harry added mentally, and then glanced over to his partner who seemed to be taking it all in slowly.

"Well, come along you two," she said, suddenly reminding them both of Professor McGonagall's no nonsense manner. "No sense in waiting here and catching flies all day. Besides, I'm sure we have something good in the kitchen." She added the last line with a grin that suddenly had Harry thinking of Sirius.

As if reading his mine Ginny reached out and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He gave her a small smile and nodded. Settled that everything was okay they followed their new grand-mère' into the house. They found themselves ushered into the foyer where she placed a hand on each of their shoulders and held them down. They felt a warm feeling spread through them and then she released them. Harry looked at her questioningly.

"I had to allow you in for the wards. Otherwise you would have found yourselves bound and unconscious and waiting in a cell. Now, lets go find something in the kitchen, and then I suppose you have a few questions for me."

The two nodded and the group made their way to the kitchen where a delicious aroma pulled them in.

…

Fred and George had stopped by the Burrow for a quick bite to eat leaving Lee Jordan to watch WWW. They had hired their friend for the summer, along with a few others, and had planned to bring them on full time once they had graduated, perhaps even help them set-up another store.

"Brother mine, that looks like"

"Harry's owl"

They stared at Hedwig and then at each other and then back at Hedwig as she flew up to them, handed them the letter, and then stared at them.

"Gred it appears to me…"

"That Harry's owl is Glaring at us…"

"Perhaps we should read this letter?"

"Might be the most expedient way of finding out what was going on…"

"Though we've never been ones to do things the fast way when doing it the interesting way was possible…"

Further conversation was cut off as Hedwig flew at them and beat them about their heads with a flap of her wings. They ducked and then opened the letter. Their eyes went wide.

"Well Forge, it seems we've stumbled onto something big here."

"Indeed, who can we trust with this information?"

"Dumbledore?"

"No chance, you heard about what he told dad concerning Harry, I wouldn't trust that git…"

"With one of our Canary Creams…" continued George, before getting a maniacal gleam in his eye that his twin recognized. "Well, partner, for the letter: dad, I think. Mum would just go spare."

"Agreed partner, now are you going to tell me what that look was about?"

"Of course partner, the new WWW line of products, embarrassing candies."

"Which do?"

"Charmed candies to make their recipient flatulate, belch, hiccup, sneeze and all other sorts of minor but embarrassing ailments."

Suddenly his twin knew where he was going with this. "Brilliant idea partner, but I foresee a need for careful testing to make sure our products work correctly."

"Indeed partner, I figure giving them to an unwilling victim might be in order, but the question is who, and what type of candy." The last line was purely rhetorical, and they exchanged another glance that could only be described as supremely devious.

While George flooed the ministry to get a hold of their father to let him know about Hermione, Fred went back to their shop early and got in contact with a supplier of Muggle candy and placed an order for a couple cases of lemon drops.

…

Tonks and Remus had just returned to Grimmauld place and Remus immediately began pacing.

Tonks quite literally fell into a couch when she tripped on the floor. "Remus, would you please sit down, I already told you we know that Harry's medical condition is alright, the manacles he has on would have sent us a magical warning if he were hurt or worse."

"But what are the odds that he still has them on. If Fudge has him the first thing he'd do would be to check him for charms like that."

Tonks couldn't help but snort. Remus Lupin was normally a very calm and logical individual, but it seems that he did have a passionate side after all. Mentally she rolled her eyes. "Remus if you won't sit down at least calm down. It would not have occurred to Fudge that the manacles were charmed; after all he was the one who gave them to the Aurors to put on Harry's hands before they brought him up to his hearing." She gave him an impish smile. "Amelia just had us make a few minor changes to them before they got to Harry. Trust me they'll never notice they are there."

"But what if they take the manacles off to chain him to the wall or something. I know it sounds bad Dora, but this is Harry we're talking about, and Murphy seems to be the law for him."

Tonks chuckled, "Well I can't argue that fact. He sure does seem to get into his fair share of trouble, but he also gets out of it. Hey, he claimed that he was attacked by death eaters, do we know if it was random or were they after him, and if that's the case how did they know where to find him?"

Remus blinked, the question had never come up in any of the order meetings. "I have no idea, but I plan on finding out."

Tonks glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed, "Remus, I have to get back to work. How should we coordinate the Harry search, and what are we going to do about Hermione?"

"As far as Hermione goes let's let Arthur in on this, he's got contacts inside the ministry that might be able to reverse the effects of a memory charm."

Tonks stared at him in surprise, and he gave her a secretive smile.

"You didn't know? Of course not many people do. I know that Arthur is well liked at the ministry and I know he had applied to be an Auror at one point, but he loves muggles which is what keeps him in his current department. But I know he's done some work with the Unspeakables with some objects he's uncovered, he might be able to ask them for some help."

Tonks managed to keep her grin to herself as she nodded and said it was a good idea. She said she'd talk to Arthur when she got back to the ministry. She then gave Remus a huge smile when he asked her to dinner to discuss finding Harry. It was a start at least. She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "It'll be fine Remus, I'd bet my last pair of knickers on it."

"That's an interesting bet, I might take you up on that," replied Remus with a smile, trying to embarrass her.

"Well, ok, " she looked him over, and gave him a wolfish smile, "but I don't think they'll fit you very well."

Before he could reply she threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and was gone.

…

Arthur Weasley had just finished a conversation with one of his sons that left him more than a little curious. He knew that Tonks had gone to check on Hermione with Remus earlier, but she hadn't yet returned, so he didn't know what they had found. George, however, read him a letter that shocked him. He was heading for a lift when he ran right into Tonks. Literally. Being larger than her, he merely stumbled back, and then offered his hand to help her up as she was sprawled out on the floor.

"Sorry about that, we need to talk. What did you find?" he asked as they stepped onto the lift that took them to Level Nine, where the Department of Mystery was located.

"Subject G was definitely hit with a very powerful memory charm that affected about a couple hours. Howler and I tried to reason her out of believing it and clamed her down. She's very worried about the Paladin, and he really needs to contact Howler as well. Howler is in anguish over the story we planted."

Arthur nodded, "I'll speak to Paladin about that tomorrow, and he's unreachable at the moment."

"Where is he at the moment?" She paused before adding, "If I'm allowed to know that."

Arthur smiled as they stepped onto the department's own lift and dropped to Level S, "He just met his godmother and they're getting to know each other. I know he has a lot of questions and I know that she's got so much to say."

"What is it now?" asked Basil as the pair stepped into his office. "You just left a few minutes ago, Ghost."

"Case 98 Basil, and Sal is going to report on Subject G."

"Sal?" asked Tonks confused.

"Your new name," explained Clark as he entered the door from behind them. Basil had called him as soon as Arthur and Tonks entered the office.

"I don't get a Miss-Something-or-Other?"

"Nope, you're Sal, short for Salazar because that story you came up to cover Harry's escape was the sneakiest plan I've ever heard. And you got Dumbledore in trouble with Molly; oh, the entertainment I had from watching someone else under her glare! I could barely keep myself from collapsing in a fit of laughter. If you'd like we can make you Miss Sal."

She shrugged and looked at Clark, "Got names for Paladin and Firebrand picked out already?"

He smiled back. "Indeed I do, but I'm not handing them out to anyone until they finish their training with the lady."

Tonks gaped. "No bloody way! They're training with Lady Flamel! I'm jealous."

Arthur laughed. "Perhaps Paladin should feel that way, as you are spending an awful lot of time with his new godfather."

Tonks' eyes suddenly grew misty, "Sirius?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Arthur nodded, and patted her on the shoulder. During her time with the department and getting to know her he had become something like a surrogate older brother or perhaps an uncle-like figure. "So let's have you're report, and then I've got one for you to hear."

She nodded and began. "Howler and I arrived at the Granger residence, we were met at wand point, though she was hiding it behind the door to appear unarmed. After a security check she let us in. She's onto someone intercepting all forms of communication with Subject P." Even though subject P was the same as Paladin, for security purposes he was referred to in the same matter as his friends when they were being discussed. "She then demonstrated evidence of some sort of minor mind altering drug still being in her system. And she reported on her activities yesterday with a two-hour gap in there. Howler did a test and it showed she had indeed received at least one, perhaps two memory modification spells. I then escorted Howler back to his current residence and we made a dinner appointment to discuss subject P." She finished her report to find both John and Arthur grinning at her, Basil just sat back with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Are you planning on showing Howler the real you tonight?"

She blushed and nodded. "We get along really well, but I want him to know the real me, not any of the faces I put on."

"Why do you go around like that anyway?"

"I find, sometimes it's easy to be myself," she shrugged, "sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else."

"Well in our line of work that is a handy talent to have. The twins got a letter from Subject G after you left, delivered by Subject P's own owl."

That got both Clark and Tonks's full attention.

"They said she recognized that she has a missing memory and thinks it might be a muggle ailment called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I know some Aurors who've seen battle go through it as well. I need some advice on how to proceed."

"For now gather Subject G and take her to your home for a while. She'll be safer there while she's with your family. I also want to meet with your twins, Paladin recommended them to the professor and he'd like to arrange an initial meeting. Take them with you to work in the morning and drop them off at level 23. That should keep them busy for a while. Thanks for the updates. Ghost – back to your real job for now. Sal: good work, have fun at dinner tonight, and remember to be responsible I don't want any pregnant field assets." He added the last part with a firm look that left Tonks blushing to the roots of her bright pink hair.

…

Ginny, Harry and Perenelle were sitting around a beautiful wood table, each with the remains of a plate of pastries in front of them. They had spent the better part of two hours questioning the legendary witch and enjoying pleasant conversation.

At length Perenelle stood and directed Harry, "First, I would like you to take off those suppression bracelets. I want to see how adept your wandless magic is. What have they taught you about wandless magic at Hogwarts?"

"That it's very rare and most wizards can't do it once they've reached the age of majority," answered Ginny. Harry just shrugged and nodded. He'd never heard that, though if it were taught in History of Magic, odds were that he had been asleep during the lesson.

Perenelle grimaced, "And what do you think about wandless magic?"

Harry looked thoughtful and then answered, "all I know for sure is that it seems to be more of a drain than using my wand."

She nodded and then looked at Ginny, "It requires more power and therefore wouldn't be possible for me?"

She grinned at her two new protégés this would be a fun summer all around. "Now would you like to know the truth about wandless magic?"

The two nodded in perfect unison, and she continued. "Wandless magic is channeling of magic through your thought and intent. It requires two things: the intent to do something, and the imagination to make it happen. Tell me if wandless magic is so rare why do children have regular bouts of accidental magic? Did either of you use a wand when you had a bout of that? No mes cheris the truth is – magic is just as simple without a wand as with one. In some cases it's even easier because there are no motions and no incantations, just thought followed by action. Like so."

She waved her hand and Ginny raised up from the ground floating. Harry's clothes were transfigured into a muggle suit complete with a tie in a tight Windsor knot. Another wave of her hand and they were back to normal. "It's easier to work at first using the incantation and sometimes moving your hand in the same way you'd move a wand. Here's your first lesson," she said as she tossed them both an apple.

"Charms are quite simple with wandless magic. Your summoning spell that I've heard about from Clark and Arthur is one example of that. Hexes and curses follow normal charms, but the hardest branch of magic to perform is transfiguration. If you can master that, everything else will be simple, so for the next three hours I want you to change that apple into a bat. There are no instructions, just thought and intent, now begin."

They did.

…

Back in England Cornelius was pacing around his office. He had made a deal with Albus Dumbledore and he was pleased. The case his team had built against the Boy Who Lived was quite a good one. After all the magic that had been performed in front of Muggles he had had an excuse to use Obliviators to wipe the memories of all the witnesses. Though none of the people who were at the crime scene had magic ability there was still the possibility that one might be a squib like what happened the year before. This time he'd make no mistakes. The only real witnesses he had to worry about was a death eater and therefore unlikely to show up to defend the Potter boy.

While some of the Wizengamot wouldn't like the fact he had intended to send the boy to Azkaban, he already had a story in his defense, that the lad was a potential threat and was going to be held in the dementor free area. That he had managed to escape somehow added credibility to his case. And now with the backing from Dumbledore his political position was secure.

There was only one wildcard. The Potter boy. He knew there was a three way hunt going on for the boy. Albus was still trying to find him for his own uses. He was directing the ministry to locate the brat, and the Dark Lord would doubtless be on the hunt for him as well. He had directed the Aurors assigned to find the boy to stun first and ask questions later. Now he had to plan what to do when they caught the boy. He smiled and reviewed his plan. It was perfect; he even had the men he needed on his personal payroll. He tapped his wand against a bell and his assistant quickly walked into his office.

"Ah yes Weatherby, how goes the search for the Potter boy?"

"Nothing yet to report minister. We have four Auror squads assigned to the search. We could assign more, but Madam Bones has the rest of the active duty staff on assignments. The only Aurors she said we could pull from are your personal guard staff. I told her that was unacceptable; a man in your position had to have all three of his homes guarded round the clock by your own guard forces of 20 men each. She said you might consider using hit- wizards but you had to be very specific that he must be taken alive or it would be murder. Even attacks would be carefully reviewed and she'd charge you for instructing them in use of excessive force."

Fudge was aggravated, but not overly so. He'd expected no less from Madam Bones; her animosity toward him and his performance was no secret at the ministry, but she didn't have enough political backing to challenge him outright. No, he'd put in a few words and watch how she floundered as her own support fled her and she was left with no option but to resign. He smiled and then turned to his assistant who was awaiting orders. "Weatherby I need to speak to Auror Scrimgeour, and Obliviator Art Mori, please arrange a meeting with them for this evening."

Percy Weasley nodded to his boss, walked to his office, and began to floo the men his minister wanted to meet, all the while cursing the stupidity of the Potter brat for causing his boss all this undue stress.

…

Basil looked at the note that had been delivered to him five minutes ago. It was quite simple – no frills, no long explanations. Only one line and a signature. It was the signature that peaked his interest. He summoned Clark and Croaker to his office and handed them the card without a word. They read it, nodded and left to get prepared.

The note simply read:

_Leaky Cauldron, 7:00 pm,  
Constantine V._


	7. Chapter 7

Small disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other canon characters are copyright J.K. Rowling and her publishers. The Professor, HenchGirl, and Salibard all belong to Rorschach's Blot.

Special thanks to my Beta's CassieP, and KDtheRavenclaw. Also thanks for all the reviews. For those wondering Volume 1 (11 chapters) is completely written and working it's way through beta's before being posted here volume 2 is currently in the working process. Those of questionable sanity on Rosch's yahoo group are lucky (or unlucky enough) to be the pre-betas and as a result have already finished the story. Though I will point out that there are quite a few changes between what they read and what get's posted here so don't get any ideas. Okay enough drabble, let's roll.

Chapter Seven: In the Air Tonight

Basil smiled to himself. The month of July had been going very well; both Paladin and Firebrand's accelerated training was nearing the end of the first stage, and they would be tested soon. Lady Flamel reported that she was very pleased with both of them and that in the future they would be regular visitors to the Flamel Manor. There was more to that story but he wasn't interested enough to follow up on it.

Instead he was focusing on Paladin's upcoming trial. Of course he wasn't the only one, two more of the people who volunteered to work on getting evidence to get the boy off were coming down for one last meeting for the day before a very special event. Perhaps not special for everyone, but very special for the few who would be privileged to attend the events planned.

One of the aforementioned persons stepped off the lift and into his office. "Basil, why the sudden meeting? I thought we were going to go over our work next week before the trial?"

"My apologies Madam Bones, the other member of the defense team had something he wanted to share with the rest of us."

"There's another member of the defense team?"

"Yes indeed, his code name is Constantine V, but you know him as…" he stopped talking as a silencing charm cut his voice off.

"Constant vigilance!" came the bark from the man who emerged from the lift, earning Basil a raised eyebrow from Madam Bones.

" Basil, I hope you realize that he works for Dumbledore."

"Actually I work against dark wizards, Albus just used to be the most expedient way to do that. No offense Bones, but trying to cut through the red tape that the Ministry has is ludicrous. The only thing that saved us during the last war was the fact that Voldemort was taken out by Potter. Hell, the only reason why half of the Death Eaters got off was because they bribed their way out. Does that sound like blind justice to you?"

Amelia was still hesitant. Though she was technically a member of InterBUn, her true job had been, and always would be in her mind, head of the DMLE. She was first and foremost a law enforcement officer. A direct result of that was the fact that suspicion came easily and trust did not. The fact that one of her department heads and one of her youngest and best Aurors was loyal to InterBUn often made her wonder who else some of the people on her payroll worked for.

Basil sighed, I should have seen this coming' he thought to himself as he pulled out his pensive. "Here, this is what convinced me."

Moody nodded, pulled out his wand, and extracted the memory.

…

Amelia tapped the bowl with her wand and was taken to the door of Dumbledore's office. She watched as the door was roughly shoved open before he could open his mouth to say come in.

"Alright Albus, I want to know what the hell is going on with the Potter case," demanded Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. "Why the hell didn't you fight Cornelius on even advocating a trial? You know just as well as I do that the Potter kid wouldn't have used magic unless he was being attacked. Didn't he demonstrate that last year?"

"Now Alastor, as I already explained, I simply don't have the pull at the ministry that I once had. It is not a matter of want, only a lack of influence."

"The other lackeys of yours in the Order might buy that line Albus, but I've known you enough to know that you could have made it very uncomfortable for Fudge if you had pressed the issue. Why didn't you?"

"It's very simple Alastor, if I fought Cornelius in this, his political position would become very unstable, and already he's barely hanging on. He's adamant about this court case. If I push the issue it would have to be in the public eye, and if certain parties, such as the Malfoys and their ilk, added their pull to the mix we could very well end up with a Death Eater as the new minister."

Moody snorted. "I think we'd be better off with a Death Eater as minister, at least that way we could rightfully eliminate him. Hell, Lucius Malfoy walked away from charges after being caught in Death Eater robes in the Department of Mysteries, and so did most of the others who we bagged there. All cried 'imperious curse, couldn't fight it,' it was just like every other time they've been arrested. One big donation later they were all back home scot free. Oh Malfoy might have spent up a bit of his political capital, but he's not hurting for money, they just take the money from the innocent after they murder them."

"I'm sure we could get a good number of the Death Eaters to reform if we could give them a chance to get out from under Tom's influence. That is part of the purpose of the Order of the Phoenix after all, to turn those who've gone dark back to the light."

Moody narrowed his eyes. "It almost sounds to me Albus, like you'd be willing to let a so-called 'reformed' death eater walk free – even after the crimes they partook in."

"Not at all, they would redeem themselves by working with the Order to help overthrow potential dark lords even after Voldemort's defeat. There will always be others like him, you know. They would help fill the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix while adding their sphere of influence to our organization."

"And what about the crimes they committed Albus! Need I remind you of people like the Longbottoms and the Prewetts? Gideon and Fabian were two of the very small group of people I could honestly say I trusted! Would you offer the Lestranges clemency if they would join your little club?" He smashed his hand onto Albus' desk. "What about the countless muggles who were raped, tortured and killed? Would you let their killers off with a mere slap on the hand and a chance to work for you? What about justice? What about honor?"

"Alastor, what does this have to do with young Harry?"

"All of it comes to this, Albus. I've seen the way you work for years; you don't like surprises and you don't like it when things spin out of _your_ control. Remus told me stories about the Potters. How much did you have to do with ensuring that Voldemort targeted Lily and James first, instead of Frank and Alice? How much did Snape have to do with it?"

"I don't like what you're insinuating, Alastor. I am looking out for the best interests of the wizarding world, and of young Harry as well. If you can't see that then perhaps it's time you retired."

"All I see, Albus, is that you've been playing puppet master. Tell me, how does a master Legilimens like yourself let a death eater posing as me have free reign around this school for an entire year! If that's the kind of leadership we can look to in the order you can consider this my resignation."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "I can't believe you're abandoning the fight now Alastor, especially when the need to locate Harry is so great."

"I'm not abandoning the fight at all Albus, I'm just looking for someone who I can trust to work with. Working for you I can't help but wonder if you'd let me die if it would mean some other murdering death eater would decide to become your little spy."

…

Amelia emerged from the pensive to face Moody and gave him a vicious glare. "And how do we know that this entire memory wasn't set-up for this very reason?"

Moody gave her a smile that looked somewhat creepy with the way his magical eye was spinning. "Constant Vigilance! Madam Bones, very good. Basil tested me under Veritaserum, and he is satisfied that I no longer work for Dumbledore."

She nodded, "I suppose that might be enough. So, why did you call for this meeting?"

Basil spoke up, "If I can interrupt for a moment, you raised a good point in your 'chat' with him, Moody. Albus is going to want to know what happened to Harry, and it makes sense that he would use Legilimency to find out. We can arm Potter with protection from all truth serums, but if he just uses his new skill in Occlumency, Albus will suspect something. We need to create some false memories. We'll work on that leading up to the trial. Now, what did you want to share?"

"One of my contacts in the Ministry warned me that Fudge is going to have one of his personal Obliviators waiting to ambush Potter if he shows up for the trial, and a group of Aurors under Scrimgeour is trying to hunt him down before the trial. What's your plan for getting him in safely?"

"We will port-key him directly into the courtroom once it is in session. Right now he is in a safe location."

Moody nodded. If there was one concept he understood, it was that information that should be secret needs to stay that way to stay secret. "I've also got the evidence we talked about ready. It wasn't easy though, bloody Fudge already had most of them paid off."

Basil nodded and adjourned the meeting; he had an appointment that he didn't want to miss.

…

Clark, Arthur, Perenelle, Tonks, Ginny, H. G., the Professor, and Croaker were already there and watching as Basil hurried in.

"Did I miss anything?"

"Just about to start the practical. Flying colors on the theory of course, but this is the real test. Right now we've got a betting pool on whether or not he gets sick when it's all done."

"Odds?"

To his surprise it was Ginny who answered. "H.G. and the Professor set it up so blame them, 10 to 1 he doesn't. 5 to 1 immediately after the first take down. 2 to 1 when he finishes the course, 1 to 1 he lasts until the adrenaline wears off, about 5 minutes after he finishes."

"Your bet Firebrand?"

"I took the long odds to say he wouldn't, if I win I win big. The favorite bet is either when he finishes the course or at first take down."

Basil nodded, "Five galleons he gets ill after his first take down. He'll then recover and finish the course."

The H.G. smiled and wrote the bet on the paper she had. She then grew serious as the room below them grew dark, the last warning that Paladin's Tactical Operation practical assessment was about to begin.

…

In a room one floor below the others, Harry Potter took a deep breath and recalled all the lessons he had undergone during the course of the last month. This would be different – he would see first hand what happened when Death Eaters intent on ending his life had theirs ended. This is what he would be doing regularly. He was glad he had skipped breakfast; he knew any food in his system would probably be exiting before long. The words of his godmother came back to him when she had drilled him in offensive wandless magic, Remember, the people you'll be facing would kill you in a second, and they would kill an innocent person without a single thought. By eliminating them you are not only protecting yourself, but others who are unable to protect themselves.' He had nodded and said he understood but it wasn't until this moment that it really hit him. It was simple. Dead Death Eaters don't kill people. Had Pettigrew been dead Cedric would probably be still alive. Had Dolohov been terminated Hermione wouldn't have been hurt. If the Lestranges had been kissed, then Bellatrix wouldn't have fought Sirius, and killed him.

He blinked as the lights dimmed and snapped one of his spare wands into his left hand. For some reason, even though it shouldn't have made a difference, he managed to get more power in his wandless magic when he had his right hand free. He would keep his attacks simple but powerful and only use his more powerful arsenal when left with no choice. He slid two of the suppression bands off his wrist leaving one remaining. Between practicing with the bands on and practicing wandless magic with Madam Flamel, his inner core of magic had strengthened during the last month and he now needed three bands to suppress the magic down to where the exercising would help it build up.

Of course that wasn't the only thing he had acquired. The Professor had added a charm to his watch the duplicated the enhanced reading and learning charms on his suppression bands. Now, with only one band on his wrist his magic felt ready to explode out of him, and he was keeping it under tight control until…

With a loud crack five Death Eaters apparated around him. He simultaneously threw his arm and wand out to the side and shattered their bodies with well placed reductor curses. He dove out of the way as the others began casting curses at him along with the other five who apparated in.

Upstairs his audience watched in grim satisfaction as soon-to-be Agent Paladin demonstrated why he had been approached to join. Croaker raised an eyebrow in approval as he cast a cutting charm that sheared through a tree, collapsing it and crushing a Death Eater who had been using it for cover.

Clark had to hold back a cheer when Paladin used his favorite high speed banishing hex on one Death Eater that threw him into another, the first travelling so fast that when he impacted nearly every bone in _both_ bodies had been shattered.

Down on the floor Harry was trying to figure out how many lives he had just ended, and how many more he would have to take. Letting his reflexes and senses take over he shut his eyes and felt the magic as it was being cast. Three of his targets were using a large boulder for cover, too large for a reductor to break, and probably too big for an explosion hex as well.

He quickly cast _protego_ followed by one of his new shield spells, _absorbeo parietis,_ which simply sucked up the energy it was hit by and used it to fuel itself. With a few seconds to cast without having to duck he pulled out another one of his wands into his right hand and quickly began a series of four spells, _Reflectus, stupefy, stupefy, Exequorus Exlodora!_ The last spell he had to direct with his hand to flow around the boulder to slam into the ground in the middle of the three Death Eaters hiding there.

One had been hit by one of the stunners, the other two were thrown out by the explosion hex and collapsed in a heap nearby. He immediately summoned their wands and snapped a pair of magical binders on them both.

Transfiguring a branch into a sword he stepped towards one of the last two Death Eaters who held a dagger in his left hand and his wand in his right. Harry exhaled and then moved, rapidly approaching the armed Death Eater. He brought his arm around, slicing at the Death Eater, who blocked his strike. Undaunted he pulled back, and then with a rapid motion he pushed the sword into the Death Eater's wand arm. The man screamed in pain and tried to stab him with the dagger. Harry blocked the dagger's thrust with a quick wandless shield against physical weapons. The death eater died as his own partner cast a cutting curse that went through him and into Harry's shield, dissolving it.

Harry dove behind a boulder amid a torrent of cutting and _Cruciatus_ curses. Taking a deep breath he cast a first aid charm on his leg with a spell to heal the spot where the cutting hex had slipped through his defenses. With the bleeding stopped, he took his wand and wrote a series of three complex runes in a triangle shape in the air.

This tactic caused a few raised eyebrows among those watching the demonstration.

"Who taught him that trick?" asked Clark.

"We were studying ancient runes, and he was reading ahead in _Runes for Combat_, and _Offensive Rune Magic_, but all he did was read the books; there were no practical lessons!" said Ginny as the Professor and H.G. tried to make themselves look innocent of any wrong doing.

Harry tapped the top rune and the trio began glowing, then he began casting stupefy spells into it at a rapid rate. Each spell entered as a red tendril of energy and exited as a small bird. After a few seconds the runes dissolved and he had a small flock of birds. "Go, stun the last one."

The birds scattered off, and Harry threw a few more spells at the Death Eater, drawing his attention to him. His shields were in place to block Harry's light stinging hexes, and left him completely open to the stunner birds that flew into him and exploded back into red spells. The last Death Eater collapsed instantly.

…

"Congratulations Operative Paladin. You are now a full and recognized member of the International Bureau of Unspeakables, Tactical Operations division, Great Britain."

Harry mentally sighed, if there was one thing he hated it was official ceremonies, and this was obviously going to be one. Before he could let any outward sigh escape, he was interrupted.

"Now that we've gotten the official crap out of the way, let's party!"

He blinked, no bloody way' he thought to himself as his jaw dropped in disbelief: his godmother, Lady Perenelle Flamel, was the one who had pushed through the pomp and circumstance. He looked over to her and she gave him a roguish wink, one far more likely to be seen coming from the Weasley twins than from one of the most respected witches of several ages.

As the group entered level 17, the staging ground for InterBUn English Tactical Operations Division, he was surprised to see 5 analysts including Callienta, the other 15 TacOps operatives along with 10 assets from field surveillance. Harry had one of the Professor's SEP field charms that also obscured facial features. Only those keyed in to someone else's charm would see his actual face. It was really very simple, except for the horrible complexity of the spell itself. Though the security for InterBUn should have permitted him to go without the added security, the nature of his own identity had prompted Clark to insure the additional security measures.

Once the party went into high gear, his godmother tapped him on the shoulder with a smile and he followed her out of the room where the festivities were taking place. "Congratulations cher coeur," she said giving him a warm hug.

"Thank you grand-mère," he replied with a smile, "but it was thanks to my wonderful teachers."

She smiled. Both she and Nicholas had overseen much of his training, including his tactical training. "You were a very good student, you and your Firebrand."

Harry wondered just how Ginny would have reacted to being referred to as _his_ Firebrand, but decided he loved his new godmother far too much to find out. "Grand-mère, about earlier…"

She stopped him with a wave and a smile. "Harry, when you've lived as long as either Nicholas or myself, you find that standing on ceremony is nice for politicians, but a royal pain for all others. As it is, we have to put up with it enough when we are asked to formal events; which we get quite often on the continent. In fact I've been using the fact that we've had company for the last month to excuse myself out of most of them." Her grin once again would have been at home on either Fred or George's face.

'Or Sirius' face' thought Harry to himself, and then berated himself for thinking about it.

Before his emotions could flame up he felt himself enveloped in a warm hug. "Harry, for the last month you've constantly held your emotions in check, and used your training as an escape. But for now, let out your grief for one you've loved."

She held him as he broke down and afterwards cleaned up his face in the same manner she would have for her own child, had she been blessed in that manner.

"Feel better?"

He nodded weakly and thanked her. She smiled back at him. "We shall speak on this subject more in the future my little one, for now let us return to the festivities." With a wave of her hand she dispelled all the privacy spells she had cast earlier.

The party was long and involved huge amounts of food, entertainment spells that he memorized and a large selection of non-alcoholic beverages. He raised his eyebrow in surprise and looked over to Mr. Weasley.

"Hello Paladin. Firebrand sends her regards and regrets about the party, she had duties at home that would have made too much noise. As it was she was risking a lot to watch your test."

Harry nodded and then asked, "Not that I'm complaining," he said. After all, he did remember what had happened in the dorms one night after Fred and George had managed to smuggle in firewhiskey for a Quidditch party. "But what's with the drinks?"

"Ah, you see, with this much combat power in one room tonight Clark and Croaker decided it was best to prevent any chance of any accidental magic. By the way your display of wandless magic was very impressive. You're the only Agent," he smiled at Harry's reaction to his use of the Professors term for Harry. "The only _Agent_ in InterBUn, with the exception of the Lady, and one of the higher ups in the US division, to have that ability."

Harry took a deep breath and wished for a stiff drink. Immediately one appeared in his hand, causing both himself and Mr. Weasley to blink in surprise. "I forgot to put my suppression bands back on, sorry," he said as he slipped the two he had taken off back onto his wrist. He pulled out his wand and vanished the drink before turning his attention back to Mr. Weasley. "Sir, what happened to the bodies of the Death Eaters I killed during my test? I know they were evil people but they still deserve to be buried."

Arthur smiled and then patted the boy on his shoulder. "Well son, the truth is that they were all created by the room you were in. I'm sorry to say that no Death Eaters were harmed during your test tonight."

Harry looked surprise and then gave a wary smile. "Well in some ways I'm glad, but for some reason I'm also disappointed."

"Don't worry son. You'll get your chance soon."

"What do you mean?"

His only answer was a downright feral grin on Mr. Weasley's face.

…

July 31st was only a few days after Harry had passed his Tactical Operations test. His birthday found him hard at work studying with Ginny for their first of many Special Operations lessons. Being able to 'study' for SpecOps was a treat in itself, since most of the lessons were practical work.

"Harry?" As they were protected by the wards while at the Flamel's, the two didn't worry about using their code names. This was especially important for them, since they'd have to go the school year without revealing their code names.

"Yeah, Gin?"

"Do you know what today is?"

"It's Wednesday, why do ask?"

"No do you know what date it is?"

"Honestly? I haven't seen a calendar since about a week before my test. Grand-mère thought that I was getting too nervous staring at it."

Ginny couldn't help but giggle, "you know she was right, you'd just stare at the darn thing until your test day. Oh did they tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"About Moody?"

Harry was intrigued, he had been staying with the Flamels since he had met Lady Perenelle and the honored alchemist Nicholas. As a result, he only returned to London on the days when he had training. He shook his head no and asked her to fill him in.

"It appears that along with Mum and Dad, Mad-Eye also had a bit of falling out with the headmaster. He's been working with Basil preparing your defense for your trial."

"Really? Who's left in the order anyway?"

"The order is still going strong, make no mistake about that, though the Weasleys are now borderline, as is Lupin. Of course Tonks is on our side, too. From what I understand the majority of the Order is still very pro Dumbledore."

Harry sighed, prompting her to pat him on the arm. "It'll be fine Harry. I'm sure Dumbledore will support you for your trial. Just be careful, he's a very powerful wizard even if he is the most manipulative bastard I've ever met and that includes Tom. You'll be stronger than him soon though, if you aren't already."

Harry blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about Ginny?"

She rolled her eyes. "Harry, you're now practicing wandless magic with three suppression bands on. I asked the professor about it yesterday – you've now got the equivalent of magical binding cuffs on your wrists. Can you still perform wandless magic?"

He flicked his wrist and though he was obviously drained by the effort conjured up a cup of tea. "Yeah, but it takes a lot more out of me now, just with that and I'm ready to collapse."

"Harry, there isn't supposed to be a single wizard able to perform even accidental magic with those on."

"Yes dear, but wandless magic operates differently than accidental magic, in fact I think it's high time we start teaching you some of the basics."

Ginny whirled around to face Lady Flamel. "Madam Flam…" she was stopped by the glare on the older woman's face, "Grand-mère," she corrected, "I don't have the talent or the power for something like that."

"Nonsense I have only taken one other female student in my lifetime and if I judge you worthy of that ability believe me, you are."

Ginny nodded meekly, more because she was humbled by the honor than by the sheer power radiating off of Perenelle.

"Good with that settled, you'll work with me for an hour every day while Harry learns a bit more about muggle fighting and combat magic from a couple of friends of mine. Of course, this will begin after you return."

"Muggle fighting?" he asked, his interest peaked.

"Yes, a good man who Nicholas met during the war, a Major Smythe, and his right hand man, Mr. McLain. Smythe will teach you about muggle firearms and McLain will train you to use that sword you pulled from the Sorting Hat."

"Grand-mère, who is going to train Harry in Battle Magic? Doesn't every country have their own secret battle spells?"

"Indeed, InterBUn has our own brand of Battle Magic that you both will learn first. Captain Salibard is a good man; he's served us well as a combat magic instructor. As you've already passed your Tactical Operations test he'll be more willing to teach you. After that we'll see about getting you trained by some of the best in the world."

Harry blinked. It was almost overwhelming what they were willing to do for him. As if she could read his mind, she patted him on the back and whispered. "I want my godson to live through whatever he may face in the next few years."

Harry felt the sting of tears develop but was crushed in a three way hug between his godmother and his partner.

Perenelle enjoyed the time with her godson and Arthur's youngest, but the training she was talking about would have to wait. It was time to take care of some loose ends in England.

"Now you've done the fake memory scenarios for Albus, non?"

"Oui, grand-mère"

"Very well. Basil has asked that the two of you return to England until your trial is complete, and I believe it's time for your first assignment Paladin."

The two women shared a quick grin as they led Harry to the Secured Floo.

…

Harry tumbled out of the Floo into the waiting arms of Arthur Weasley who gave him a grin and then propped him on his feet and then suddenly exclaimed, "Happy Birthday Harry!"

He blinked in surprise. He was surrounded by Arthur, the Professor, H.G., Perenelle, Nicholas, Ginny, Tonks, Madam Bones, Clark, Croaker, and Basil.

He turned to Ginny with an accusing glare on his face, "you knew!"

"Of course I knew, why do you think I asked you if you knew what today was?"

He smiled at her and everyone else present. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry we couldn't have more of your friends, or have this at the Burrow Harry, but with things as they are…"

"Not at all Mr. Weasley. I appreciate the work and sentiment that went into this as it is."

"Here son, Molly baked this for me. I didn't tell her what it was for, but I think she might be suspicious that I'm doing more at the ministry than I let on."

"Dad!"

"Sorry sweetie, but your mother does have that blasted clock. I still don't know how you get around it."

"Simple. I think of the Flamels as home, and I think of the Department as practice, so the clock reads home or practicing." She gave him a smug look and polished her nails against her shirt.

This prompted a snorted laugh from Harry and soon everyone joined in.

Finally after everyone ate some of Mrs. Weasley's cake that Arthur and Ginny had tricked her into baking and then smuggled out of the house, the group handed him several packages.

"You guys didn't have to do anything, I'm just thankful for everything I've been learning."

"Shut it Potter, or you'll be the first test subject for my new and improved wandless bat- bogey hex."

That shut Harry up quickly and H.G. handed him a package.

"Well Paladin, have we got a heck of a present for you." The Professor smiled as Harry opened the package and pulled out a pair of glasses.

"Are these…?"

"We made a few more additions than what you asked for. Here," she said, handing him a very thick book. "Charmed of course, but this is the manual for all the charms and things we put on these."

"Wow!" exclaimed Harry, "This is huge!"

H.G. laughed at his response while the Professor started telling him about his new glasses. "Well, all the charms built into the glasses can be activated at will so you have the option of turning them off and on. There's another SEP field charm, there's one that lets see through enchantments, another one works like mage sight and lets you see the magic in wards and such."

"There's also a language charm that'll let you read any language and a vision enhancing charm that will allow you to see things far away," added H.G. mimicking Ginny's earlier movements. "We got the idea from a muggle video camera. It's also got obscuration charms, the same charm we added to your watch. There are some charms that are always active, it's got an indestructible charm as well as protection from removal and summoning. They will stay on your face unless you or someone you key in to the charm take them off."

"And that's not all, but we'll let you read about what else they can do on your own time," finished the Professor, as he caught the glares from a few of the others. He thought it might be best to let some of the others give Harry their presents.

Tonks wished him a happy birthday and then handed him parcel that he opened up to reveal a few shirts and trousers. "They're all charmed to change color when you want. It's very useful when you have to trail someone. They are also made to accept images and writing with just a thought and a spell, so you can have some fun with them such as..." she waved her wand at one of the shirts and it now read, 'Harry Potter: England's Most wanted, in more ways than one.' The title prompted laughter all around, as Ginny and Mr. Weasley approached him.

"Happy birthday from the Weasleys, Harry!" said a cheerful Ginny who handed him a carefully wrapped package. He looked at her in confusion as he opened up the package to reveal a reservation slip.

"Ginny?"

"Tonight Harry, you'll have to take some precautions, but Dad and I set up a dinner at a nice place for you and some friends."

Perenelle handed him a box, inside he found a gold chain with a pendant on it. "Thank you grand-mère it's very nice." He said as he slipped it on.

"Tap the pendant with your wand Harry."

He did as was instructed and then felt the buzz of magic wash across his face. "What just happened?" he asked and then "What on earth!" both in voices that were not his.

She chuckled and help up a mirror. He looked into it and discovered a face that bore little resemblance to Harry James Potter, instead it looked like a much younger Nicholas Flamel. "Both the face a voice are Nicholas when he was much younger. You can place a pensive memory of a person into the pendant and it places an illusion your face and charms your voice to match. It also has a minor shielding charm on it, and a charm to allow you to speak in different languages. One of our better creations." She added with a wink. "It's only an illusion so it won't fool someone with the ability to see through, say an invisibility cloak."

He nodded at her warning and made a note that it wouldn't be effective to hide from Dumbledore or Moody with it.

Basil, Clark and Croaker came up last, handing him a package with a few objects in it, one was a tiny ear piece, another was an unremarkable ring and the last was a Muggle gun. Croaker handled the explanations.

"Potter, the ear piece will let you understand other human languages spoken to you, the ring is charmed to allow you to write in any language. It will also help you with runes. It was your mother's ring." He paused to give Harry a moment to pick up the ring very carefully and slip it on his finger. "The gun is something from InterBUn US R&D. In addition to being able to use it as a regular Muggle gun, you can also cast spells into these casings," he handed him a large box full of empty casings. "Once the spell is cast into the shell it's locked into stasis. When the shell is struck it releases the stored spell. It's still experimental so this is one of three beta units. It seems to handle certain spells better than others, you'll have to try it out on your own. As far as getting muggle bullets for it…" he looked over to Perenelle who nodded.

"I'll have Smythe handle that," she said and they nodded.

"Now your trial is in four days so the reason for a lot of your presents is this," said Basil, handing Harry a folder.

With those words the party ended and everyone got serious. Perenelle gave him one last hug and told him to visit her when he could and to write often. Her training would start back up a week after his trial. The Professor and H.G. waved and then hopped a lift back to level 11. Ginny wished him good luck and told him she'd see him at dinner tonight. Tonks followed suit, and the two witches took the lift to Level 9.

When it was down to Harry, Arthur, Croaker, Clark, and Basil, the quintet settled around the table that the cake and presents had been sitting on three minutes and a lifetime ago.

"This is a death eater we know as Gibbon. He's one of the younger Death Eaters and therefore not a member of the inner circle. We were, however, able to trace the magical signature of one of the spells cast at the scene of your arrest to match the one that we have in his file."

Clark smiled at Harry's expression and took over the briefing, "We are sending in the Ghost to extract him from his current location. He's staying low and living in Berlin at the moment. Paladin, as part of your Special Operations training you will accompany the Ghost on this assignment and assist him as he sees fit. Any questions?"

Both men shook their heads prompting a smile from Clark. "Good. Show me why we chose you for this assignment, Paladin. I look forward to great things from you."

"Just remember the life of an Auror is far more paperwork than what you'll see here," added Croaker.

"Have fun at dinner tonight. The way we set it up, Paladin, is that you are a German dignitary who is being escorted by Arthur Weasley. He will be joining you tomorrow for a conference on the reversal of charmed muggle objects." Everyone smiled at how unlike Arthur Weasley that was. Had the conference been how to charm muggle objects, that would have been a different story. "As for dinner tonight, I know that people have been worried about you. You may reveal yourself to Howler, sorry, Remus Lupin, as his Occlumency shields are strong enough to hide you from everyone else. However you are not to reveal who you are working for or anything about any of our other people in place understood?"

Harry nodded and then added, "Yes sir."

"Good. Clark?"

Clark nodded and touched Harry's pendant with his wand muttering. Perenelle had given them a manual in addition to the one she had for Harry. In a few seconds Harry could speak fluent German and broken English. With the appearance of a young blond man with blue eyes no one in the burrow would recognize him.

"You two will leave first thing tomorrow morning for this assignment by long range portkey. Normally I'd let you use muggle travel, Paladin, but this is too time critical."

Harry nodded and then followed Arthur Weasley to the lift, leaving the three Unspeakables in the room by themselves.

"Well the die is cast I suppose. Even without Gibbon we should be able to pull the trial without a problem."

"But with Gibbon it will be so much easier, but are you sure about this Basil? He's trained for direct combat, special operations is a different world."

"I know Croaker. Clark, what's your opinion in the matter?"

"The best kind of training is the kind you get in real life situations. We can set them up with the training room, but nothing really prepares you for what you might run across in the field. But I'm not worried – that kid is loaded for dragon. He can do most of the abilities that we let the professor put on his glasses except the SEP field, and he's already got that plus the pendant. No the only thing I'm worried about is Gibbon not being in place when we get there."

"That's why Firebrand will be scouting the area out before they arrive."

"Are you sure that's wise? They are both terribly young and somewhat close as well."

"I know the risks, but I want to get them used to working with each other. Once I get them in Special Ops training after this blasted trial they'll be the best Basil. Trust me."

Croaker grinned at Basil, "Bagman wouldn't bet against him and his record lately Bas."

Basil sighed and shook his head. "Just remember they are still students and they still have to finish their education before you start sending them out on constant assignments. That means two years for Paladin and three for Firebrand, and we have to be concerned about Voldemort as well as Dumbledore."

His two operation men nodded and then they left for the afternoon staff meeting.

…

The formal dinner had been wonderful, even in his disguise, Harry enjoyed seeing Hermione and Ron and Moony again. He had been shocked when Ginny had told him about what Dumbledore had done to his two best friends, but other than the missing memories there were no lasting effects, and the memory could be restored at a later point. He had been introduced as Herr Töpfer. Hermione raised an eyebrow at this and he mentally kicked himself. It would be just like her to know enough German to realize the truth of his name. Shrugging he gave a big fake smile and chatted away with Mr. Weasley about muggle devices being careful to mispronounce the names.

It had been pleasant, though he noticed that everyone seemed a bit reserved. He knew the reason of course, only Ginny, Tonks and Mr. Weasley knew who he really was everyone else was worried what was going on with their friend on his birthday. Remus noticed the smile on Arthur's face and asked him what was going on. Arthur had told Remus that he'd fill him in later.

As dinner began to draw to a close and the group prepared to head back into the Alley he was careful to time his approach so that it would coordinate with Tonks' move with the Weasleys.

Tonks had told him how worried Remus had been about him even after Harry had mailed all his friends about his current fake status. It was time to settle the poor old wolf's nerves down. He had avoided holding a conversation with him, instead had merely nodded to him politely up to this point. As they left the restaurant he slowed his pace letting the Weasleys and Hermione get far enough in front that he felt comfortable making his move. Harry smiled at Remus and spoke in accented English, "I've seen your face before my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know you good sir. Have you been enjoying England?"

"It's a nice place. I'm sure, however, that you know me. I suffered a painful loss recently, one I think you experienced as well."

Remus blinked in confusion, and tried to ignore the pain of loss he still felt about Sirius. "I think you must have me mistaken for someone else Mr. Töpfer. I can't think of a loss I've shared with you."

"No you don't fool me, the hurt doesn't show but the pain still grows, doesn't it Moony?" said a suddenly very familiar voice. As he saw the tears start to form in Remus's eyes Harry deactivated the SEP field and the illusion pendant.

"Harry!" said a startled Remus.

Harry dove at him and covered his mouth before he could say another word. He reactivated all his security charms. "Yes Mr. Lupin, that was the boy I ran into in Germany, I heard when I came here that he vas vanted by your ministry and came to report him." He gave the werewolf a glare and indicated he'd better go along.

Remus's eyes were the size of saucers but he quickly caught on. "Well I'm sure our Minister of Magic would be happy to help you."

"You sound bitter about your Minister. Is he not competent?"

If Remus hadn't known it was Harry playing part he might have exploded. "He couldn't lead his way out of a paper bag."

Harry grinned, "Somehow I'm not surprised, I've seen his image in the newspaper and he looks like a fool."

Remus, "You don't know the half of it. Well, I suppose you might."

They shared a grin and by unspoken agreement nothing more was said about his true identity as they hurried up to catch up to the Weasleys.

Once at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry, or rather Herr Töpfer expressed the desire for a drink. Molly ushered her family through the Floo, waving a good night to Tom the barkeep, as Arthur said he'd join them before they turned in.

Before Remus could open his mouth Harry cut it, speaking perfect English, but again in a voice not of his own. "Moony before I begin keep referring to me as Herr Töpfer."

Remus nodded and then gave Arthur an accusing glare. "You knew."

Arthur gave Remus a small shrug, "I just met Herr Töpfer earlier today, but yes I knew when we met who he was."

"It's okay Remus, I can't tell anyone else because they don't know Occlumency, but you did so I could tell you. I can't stay long, it's too risky for me, even with the disguise."

"Okay cub," said Remus, reaching across the table and grasping his arm firmly. "What about your trial?"

"You'll have to wait and see, but I think you'll find what we've got planned worthy of the Marauders," replied Harry with a wicked grin.

"We?" asked Arthur playing his part.

"Can't say, sorry," was the cagey reply.

They spent another thirty minutes before Harry, or rather Herr Töpfer, announced he had to get back to his hotel room as he had an early flight out.

Whispering to Remus he added "I'll see you all after the trial. Take care." With that he got up and exited via floo.

Remus and Arthur bid each other a goodnight and went their separate ways. Both were excited about the next few days, for different reasons.


	8. Chapter 8

If the Surgeon General were to read this they would probably tell you that J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter Universe, they might further mention that Rorschach's Blot has a stake in some of the characters here. Of course what are the odd's of the Surgeon General reading this story?

Special thanks to my wonderful Beta's CassieP and KDtheRavenclaw. Also the Surgeon General warns that Rorsch's Yahoo group may be hazardous to your sanity, but thanks to them as well. And to everyone who's reviewed; my gratitude. I've got quite a few I want to write back to personally but just haven't had a chance to yet. I will though, eventually.

Chapter 8: Test for Echo

Harry sighed as he picked himself up off the ground. Despite a month of training with InterBUn, he had still not managed to get the hang of Floo and portkey travel, and he wasn't due to start Apparation until after his trial. Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

"Alright there Paladin?"

"Yes Mr. Grey, thank you," he replied, trying to get used to using Mr. Weasley's other code-name. The notorious Mr. Grey; the man with a fifty-thousand-galleon price tag on his head, courtesy of Voldemort.

"Our first stop is to check in with IBU at the German Ministry Department of Mysteries."

"IBU?" asked Harry somewhat confused.

"Sorry, Paladin, IBU is what I refer to as InterBUn in the field, in all honesty I've always found InterBUn a somewhat silly acronym."

"Oh, I just assumed it was like Interpol."

"Interpol?"

"It's a muggle police agency that can go around the world. They aren't limited to a single country."

At the word 'muggle,' Arthur Weasley's eyes lit up like a child's at Christmas. "Well no one ever mentioned that to me. On second thought, perhaps InterBUn isn't such a bad name after all."

Harry smirked and followed Mr. Weasley to the German Ministry where they checked in with the representative of the German branch of InterBUn, a fellow named Hans Ritter, and told them the purpose of their visit.

"There, that wasn't so bad, now all we have to do is make contact with the asset we sent over last night."

"Oh? Who did Croaker task for this assignment, Spunky?"

"It's Sal now actually, and no, he sent Firebrand." From his tone Harry could tell that Mr. Weasley wasn't exactly pleased with this latest development. Harry couldn't blame him, he was less than pleased himself.

"Basil agreed mainly because they are going to partner you two up while you're at school; they want you to start learning how to work together and this is an easy way to try it out. Don't worry, if we do our part right this will be a walk in the park."

Right,' thought Harry, A walk in the park, a park filled with Hippogriffs, Dementors, Trolls, Dragons and…' his mental revelry was interrupted as he was handed a Portkey and the two shot off to the forest not far from Schotten.

…

They landed, and once again Harry was given a hand up by a smiling Arthur Weasley. "I swear Paladin, Croaker and Clark are ranting about you being the most gifted magic user of the age, but you can't Floo or portkey to save your life."

Harry glared back at him and then wandlessly cast disillusionment charms on both of them.

They made their way to a downed log overlooking a stately mansion hidden deep in the forest. The property was obviously magical in nature; no roads ran in or out of the property. Arthur said nothing but crouched down behind the log. Unsure of what to do, Harry followed suit, but drew his wand just in case.

When they were crouched down Arthur ended the disillusionment and then whispered to the air. "Report."

A second later the invisibility cloak that Ginny had been wearing slipped off and into her pocket. "Property under observation for the past 12 hours. Aura Sensing Glass shows two occupants in the residence. Careful examination of the property show a total of five wards: Notice-me-not, Unplottable, key-in-apparition, key-in-portkey and magic sensing."

Harry was shocked, he had never heard Ginny sound so… professional. Before he could voice his surprise she added in a playful tone, "cat got your tongue, Paladin?"

"Sorry Firebrand, just shocked at your superior performance."

"You'll do fine Paladin" she growled.

Harry decided to forgo a comment and instead took a deep breath and began looking at the wards under mage sight. He gave a quiet whistle.

"What do you see Paladin?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Firebrand wasn't kidding about those wards, I see a barrage of colors cutting across the wards, so they're crafted in connecting layers."

Mr. Weasley ignored the fact that Harry had just told him his mage sight was of the most advanced type known and simply grunted his respect. "Quite an intelligent plan I must say, anyone who tries to take down the wards sets off the magic detection one. Are there any shielding wards that prevent us from walking onto the property?"

Firebrand shook her head. "I triple checked, if you wanted to, you could simply walk from here in. I daresay that might be the easiest way in. So easy in fact it's got me worried."

Arthur Weasley had worked with his daughter on more than one occasion while Harry was undergoing his Tactical Operations training, and he had come to respect his daughters' instinct. She'll make a hell of a specialist,' he thought to himself, feeling the pride in his youngest's ability conflict with the worry of any parent.

He nodded to her and she continued. "I think that there's something on the ground, something that might not be magical or something that's designed to detect magical signatures without setting off a magical signature of it's own."

"Might be mines," whispered Harry as he closed his eyes to stop his mage sight. He looked for some kind of physical clues at the base, and then made a mental note to have the Professor add some kind of x-ray vision charm to his glasses. Instead he used the enhancing charm to zoom in on the area. "I can't see anything, but if they're buried we wouldn't notice them until we stepped on them and by then it'd be too late."

"The second visitor apparated right to the house and while there's no visible chimney I'm not 100 sure that there's no fireplace in there. For now let's set up our own wards. Paladin?"

Harry nodded, pulled out a rock, and inscribed it with a couple runes. Then he pointed his wand at it and hit it with a fair bit of magical power. The rock glowed and he nodded to Ginny.

She glanced through one of the devices she had and nodded, "Your wards are up, and very impressive I might add."

He grinned, "They'll allow for port-key or apparition into the area, but not out. The complete port-key and apparition wards require more active magic and I'm worried about setting off the anti-magic wards."

Ginny inclined her head in response. "I know; we've run into that problem on other assignments. I've asked the Professor to look in on that; usually wards are part of my duties as field surveillance."

Arthur smiled at the pair and decided it was time to start teaching. "We can't apparate or port-key in. Active magic such as spell casting is detected by the wards, but something passive such as the built in charms on a broom are undetectable by this type of ward."

"What I don't understand is the lack of security here. If it were a safe house I was setting up it would have everything short of a Fidelius charm on it." Ginny listened to Harry's review of the wards and nodded after he completed his assessment.

"Agreed, let's make a note of that for our future safe homes."

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Well we are, or will be partners, shouldn't we have a few safe houses set up in case of an emergency?"He blinked. "You're right, hadn't given it much thought yet. So Mr. Grey, what's the plan?"

Arthur grinned at the lad. He had always thought of him as another son and was happy to pass on what he had learned to what he viewed as another son and even more so for his daughter. For all the times his life had been on the line if what he passed on kept his daughter safe it would have been worth it.

"Firebrand you will remain here and keep us informed on what's going on inside the house. Use the ASG and keep us informed with these." He handed her a muggle looking earpiece with a thin tube coming out of it. He then pulled two more out and placed one in his ear and handed the other to Harry who did the same. "Just talk into it normally and it will broadcast to any other units within a kilometer radius."

"Wicked!" she breathed and followed suit. Is this a muggle device?"

"Technomancy from the Professor. Based on a muggle device but transmits through passive magical means. From now on I'm Ghost, you're Paladin and you are Firebrand. Nothing else till we're home safe." The two nodded and he smiled.

Paladin and Ghost mounted their brooms and flew up carefully staying hidden among the trees and avoiding windows as best they could and finally landed on the roof.

"We're in position, report."

"Subjects are on the west corner of the residence third level up, they just… Standby… Just registered 10 magical signatures apparating in! Orders?"

"Standby Firebrand, we will observe only for now, we're going to play it safe and mute our magical signatures so expect to lose us for a bit." He whispered into his ear-piece and then nodded to Paladin who pulled out another one of the Professors inventions and handed it to Ghost, who slipped it on and pressed the button.

"Ghost you're off scope, Paladin you're flickering. Check status."

Paladin shrugged at his own box that wasn't working and pressed a button on his watch. He immediately vanished off the ASG in Firebrand's hands. "You're both clear now. New signatures are now directly below you. On standby until further notice, Firebrand out."

…

Gibbons opened his arms to the new comers. "Brother Pure-bloods! The Dark lord sends his greetings and his praise in your works at spreading the truth to the magical communities. Your work on Die Unduldsamkeit has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Here is a token of his thanks." He waved his hand to a table that had several wands and galleons stacked on it.

"What are the wands for?"

"They are special hold-out wands, you use them and then burn them. Then if someone wants to check your wand for, say a torture curse that was used to torture a Mudblood to death all they find are normal every day charms."

The group of ten purebloods obviously liked that idea and nodded to Gibbons. "Very well, we are willing to join your lord's cause, he seems to have the right ideas about order in the world. Mudbloods are a curse that should be eradicated, along with muggles."

"I'm glad you feel that way friend, I'll return here in one week to bring you to the dark lord and he will welcome you into his ranks then. For now have fun testing your new wands."

…

Above them Ghost tucked away the extendable ear he had liberated and turned to Paladin.

"We have two options. We can wait for them to hit the wards and bounce back, or we can hit them before they try, your ideas?"

Paladin frowned as he thought about the situation. "If we go when they try to leave they'll be disoriented, but ready for some type of threat. If we hit them now we have more surprise going for us."

Ghost nodded and smiled, the boy had great instincts. "Firebrand advise we are about to move in, prepare for fireworks."

"Understood."

"Okay lad, you're up on Three, Two, One!"

On 'one' Paladin let loose with a barrage of massive blasting hexes that turned the rooftop into little more than debris that rained down on the people below. In the confusion he and Ghost jumped down.

Before he had even reached the ground he began casting silent stunning spells as fast as he could. The effect was impressive though most of the people in the room were too busy panicking to notice. Ghost watched it from the corner of his eyes it seemed as if a long continuous line of red extended from Paladin's wand. Clark had taken Paladin aside earlier and explained to him that for tactical operations, every mission was given a set of parameters to follow. For this assignment unless they fought back he was supposed to try and take them alive, and at his power, almost every combat spell was lethal. Three of the Blood Purists had already collapsed, victims of one or more stunners, the rest had scattered looking for cover in the room. Paladin paused in casting stunners just long enough to transfigure the entrance of the fireplace into a three inch thick steel wall.

Beside him trying to not be impressed by the whip-like affect the continuously cast stunning spells made, Ghost touched the floor and transfigured four chairs into lions that charged the blood purists and then began casting his own spells at targets.

As soon as she had seen the fighting begin, Firebrand had added complete anti-apparition and port-key barriers to the ward. She then focused her attention back to the house to keep an eye for any targets attempting escape by running out. She fingered her wand and almost wished that one would.

Paladin had taken out both Gibbons and another man he didn't recognize who had been in the corner waiting before the assault. With them out of the way he turned his attention to two purists. One of them had the brilliant idea to try and attack them. Paladin cast a wandless shield that deflected the severing hex, and growled. "Reducto!" he snapped and blew the man through the wall. The force of the bludgeoning hex shattered most of the bones in his body even before he had been smashed through the bricks of the house.

Seeing his companions fate, the other man raised his hands in surrender and then collapsed as a still annoyed Paladin nailed him with a stunning spell so strong it would later take the combined efforts of four Bundesamt für Magie members to awaken him.

Ghost ducked as two began to cast spells at him. His response was quick and simple. One well placed cutting hex removed the wand and hand from one target. Three carefully placed bludgeoning hexes took care of the other.

Paladin nailed one target with a bone breaking curse and followed it up kindly with a stunner that sent the screaming man into painless oblivion. He turned and then snorted in laughter as one of the last two men standing was cowering underneath the paws of two lions.

The last Blood Purist had attempted to escape by going out a window. He had made it half way out when he was nailed with a stunning spell from the outside. He hit the ground and then stirred a little, Paladin nailed him with another stunner that stilled him.

"Nice shot Firebrand," said Paladin glancing out the window to see her wave back in response.

…

Harry, Ginny and Arthur portkeyed back right to level 15, the only level that allowed for incoming magical transportation. Clark was waiting for them.

"Report."

"Mission successful and we left a present for the German Aurors," came the reply from Arthur.

"Here's the mission Target," said Harry, as he dumped an unconscious Gibbons onto the floor.

"And here's a bonus," added Ginny, as she dropped a handful of the wands they had confiscated along with the galleons they had taken after they had finished with the raid.

Clark smiled. "Good work. Ghost, I want you to give the full debriefing to Basil, Paladin, you and Firebrand are requested back in Devon, I believe you know where. You'll be debriefing Lady Flamel on the assignment. We'll take care of our little guest here."

Harry and Ginny nodded at their dismissal and then Flooed to the Flamel residence.

…

"Well Arthur how was their performance?" asked Basil, sitting at his desk calmly sipping tea.

Arthur Weasley grinned back at Clark who then turned and gave Basil a smug look.

"I don't think I could have hand-picked anyone in the Unspeakables who would have performed as well as those two did," was his response, earning a surprised look from the head of the Unspeakables.

"Very true, and young Mr. Potter hasn't had any, and your daughter has only had minimal Special Operations training. But then for this assignment it wasn't needed, just a simple snatch-and-port."

Arthur snorted. "Sure, except for the appearance of ten members of the German blood purist society, all dark sympathizers. Those wands Ginevra brought back were gifts to them from Voldemort."

That bit of information got Basil's attention. "Ten of them you say? Voldemort testing the waters outside of Britain?"

"Yes, troubling isn't it? The thought that he may now be recruiting from other countries, and not all of Europe is so opposed to him as we are." He gave the matter some thought before continuing, "Though looking at Fudge's record perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to speak." The last statement earned a few chuckles from around the table.

"Anything else we should know about the operation?"

He gave the matter some thought before speaking. "We really need to let those two get some real training. Not the kid-glove stuff they've been getting. I've never seen anyone use stunners like that. You've seen water flow through a pipe? That's what it looked like with stunners being the water."

The three men spent a few more minutes discussing training options, and plans for their two young operatives before parting ways.

…

"Well, this was your first time out Harry? How are you?"

Harry sat down shakily. He had been still running off of adrenaline when they had left the department. Now that it had run its course he felt like he was going to collapse. He would have had it not been for the two pairs of hands that held him and led him to a chair. Falling onto the chair Harry buried his face into his hands. This wasn't like his test when his enemy was wearing a mask that hid their faces. He had seen the shock in the man's eyes right before he had been blown out of the house.

"I killed someone."

"Yes you did." The response was quiet, but piercing and stated very matter-of-factly.

"I deserve to go to Azkaban, I killed someone."

"Harry…"

"No Ginny you don't understand."

A second later that proved the wrong thing to say as she whirled around and stalked over to him angrily. She was about to set him straight when Perenelle interceded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "No chérie, he's in shock over his actions and isn't thinking clearly give us a moment please?"

Ginny nodded and headed for the gardens. The Flamel's home in Devon wasn't nearly as opulent as their manor in France, but it had a very homey feel to it, and the garden was breathtaking.

After she was gone Perenelle gathered her godson into her arms in a crushing embrace. "Yes you've killed a man Harry, now what's wrong."

"I'm no better than they are, that's what they do after all, they kill people."

"Harry how much do you know about the muggle military?"

"A little bit, I used to read stories and the history books in school."

"You understand then what soldiers do in wars do you not?"

"Yes, but muggles don't have weapons with a stun setting."

"Harry what spell did he try and cast at you?"

"A severing charm at my neck."

"And if it had connected?"

"I'd have probably died, either from blood loss unless it was strong enough to completely sever my spinal cord. That wouldn't have been fun."

"No it would not." She cupped his face in her hands and forced him to look up at her. "You're not going to turn into some monster because you've taken a life in the line of duty, if anything your response shows that you are far more human than they would ever have been. Now are you alright? Do you remember our talk before your test?"

Harry nodded and took a deep cleansing breath, he would read the report on the background of the man he had killed and then proceed with his life from there. "Yes I remember it well, I suppose it's time to prove I was listening."

He sat straighter and then took one last cleansing breath, he could feel the tension flow away as he exhaled, even as he took the memories and locked them down in the safety of his mental library. "Thank you grand-mère."

She gave him another hug and then released him. "Good, though I think you should apologize to your friend, she was most put-out with you earlier."

Harry nodded quickly and then scampered off to find Ginny. He found her after a few minutes of searching in the garden. "Ginny, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, in my haste I said something very hurtful to you, forgive me?"

She glared at him for a moment and then met his hopeful smile with one of her own. "Sure Harry, but the next time you go all prat on me like that you can finally learn first hand what my bat-bogey hex does."

She took pleasure at the expression on his face as he went pale thinking about her infamous curse.

"So with the air between you two cleared let us get to training while we can. While you practice your wandless magic I want you both to begin working on magical transportation. That means the portkey spell, and basic apparition. We shall deal with the rest afterwards.

The two nodded and went to work.

…

"Remus for the last time would you please stop pacing!"

"I'm sorry Dora, but with the trial being today I'm just out of sorts. I've got a bad feeling about Fudge, if Harry doesn't show up he's going to mobilize half the Auror force to look for him, and not everyone is as sympathetic as you and Kingsley. If Harry does show he's going to be given little more than a show trial and then sentenced and I don't put it past Fudge to be paying off members of the Wizengamot."

Tonks wanted to tell him he was probably being ridiculous but she knew he was more likely than not, correct in this case. There was no love lost between Fudge and Harry Potter. "Remmy, as much as I agree with you is pacing going to make the situation any better?"

Unable to disagree he let out a huge sigh. "No Dora, it doesn't, but I can't help it! I'm not even allowed to go into the courtroom."

She placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "Fudge's bigotry is going to cause trouble eventually, but for now just try and bear with it Remmy. I'll be in the courtroom and I'll do my best to keep an eye on Harry for you."

At her statement he finally stopped pacing and instead began to sit down and tap his foot against the floor. Tonks chuckled and then kissed him on the cheek before apparating out. Remus turned on the Wizarding wireless and then blanched as he heard the announcer say "The Potter trial, bringing you coverage from the crime scene to the courtroom." He got up and began pacing again.

…

Bloody hell Hermione! Would you stop pacing!"

"Language Ron!" she snapped back without stopping. Not satisfied with merely walking a path into the Weasley's carpet she was muttering quietly. "If he shows up professor Dumbledore might be able to help him, but why hasn't the Order been protecting him, and why haven't they found him yet. What if he's unable to get to the trial what's going to happen?"

Ron just stared at his friend and shook his head. "Hermione! We can't do anything but sit here and listen to the trial like everyone else. The courtroom is going to be closed off to everyone but authorized personal, remember half the order will be in there. They'll protect him."

"I wish I felt as confident as you Ronald, it's just that for some reason I'm not sure why, but I feel like professor Dumbledore is hiding something."

"Of course he's hiding something Hermione, he's the leader of the forces of light, he's hiding the order from both the ministry and You-Know-Who!"

Hermione blew a frustrated breath out of pursed lips and continued her pacing as "Some kind of drama live on wireless. Stay tuned to your wizarding wireless for updates from the Potter Trial!" played in the background.

…

"Oh really Albus please stop this pacing it's giving me a headache!"

"Terribly sorry Minerva, just a bit anxious to get this trial over. I'm sure when all is said and done young Mr. Potter will once again be safely returned to his relatives."

"About that Albus, I'm not sure how safe he is there. I'm worried about him being in such an abusive environment."

"Abusive? My dear Minerva I've personally spoken to Harry's Aunt and Uncle. Believe me when I say nothing out of the ordinary is going on at his residence. And with the blood wards in place there's no safer place for him with the possible exception of Hogwarts." Yes, and at Hogwarts I have even more control over what the boy encounters, and he must be the weapon to wield against Voldemort. Perhaps through him and his death I will be able to turn Tom Riddle back to the light. After I finish getting his Horcruxes, of course; surely magic that dark is influencing his mind.'

"Albus? Are you ready?"

"Yes indeed." He said with a smile as he began working on possible scenarios on how to turn the dark lord back into the light. Perhaps I should let Cornelius hang on to young Mr. Potter it'd make him less likely able to kill Voldemort and more likely able to shift him back into the light, he'd vanquish the dark lord by turning him into a light wizard once more. Just like he should have done with Grindelwald instead of killing him.'

Certain that the trial would see to itself somehow Albus Dumbledore let his thoughts wander to how best to protect the wizarding world from dark influences.

…

"For the last time Harry would you stop pacing!"

"I'm sorry Ginny, but I'm nervous, this'll be my first time seeing him since school ended and quite frankly, I'm scared I'm going to lose control and hex him on sight!"

"I figured you'd be more worried about your trial Harry." She said, trying to decide whether to grin or glare at him as he kept pacing the floor.

Harry stopped pacing for a moment to look up at her. They were currently at the Flamels home in Devon. Originally the plan had been for him to portkey in directly from Level 15, but Perenelle objected, saying she wanted her godson to stay in more pleasant quarters until the trial. He took and let out a deep breath and began focusing on his Occlumency, he had his first two layers already up and running and was ready to bring the others up to full force in a split second. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about the trial Gin, but we've got Moody working on my defense, plus what ever the order managed to turn up and the fact that we have Gibbon. I guess I'm not as worried about that as I am Fudge or Dumbledore trying to pull something."

She nodded and then gave him a hug. I have to go back to the Burrow now; I'll try to convince Mum to let us go to your trial, but if not I'll be listening to it on the wireless. Bloody Carver wouldn't let me set monitoring charms on the court rooms so I could watch."

He grinned at her words and hugged her back. "Thanks Gin, for everything. I guess I'll see you when it's all said and done. I'd like to spend time at the Burrow; after all we have to keep up appearances. At least when I'm not with grand-mère, that is."

She grinned, "Good luck Harry!" and with that she was gone.

Harry sighed as Perenelle walked into the room holding a set of finely tailored robes. "Now mon coeur, it is time for us to get you presentable for this pathetic excuse for a trial. I had our tailor work these up for you." She handed him the dress robes; they were a deep blue color with a tint of green that seemed to highlight his eye color even more than normal. On the right breast where he'd normally find his Hogwarts crest, there was an emblem he had seen once before on a visit to Gringotts.

"Grand-mère?"

"Yes?"

"What is this emblem?"

"That's the crest of the ancient and noble house of Potter, as the last living member of the family you are the Potter Heir, according to wizarding law you should have been emancipated and given your majority as well as your seat on the Wizengamot. By wearing that crest you are proclaiming to them that you should rightfully be among them as equals not one being judged."

Harry blinked, he had no idea about any of that, and more bloody lies from the old git' he thought angrily as he pulled the robes on, followed by a cloak that hid the crest.

"Very good, now if only we had a better way to bring you into the court room such as…"

As if to answer her thought, Harry heard a familiar sound and in a burst of flame Perenelle's phoenix familiar appeared and landed gently on his arm. "You're not Fawkes!" he cried out in surprise even while gently stroking her plumage.

Perenelle let out a melodic laugh, "No that is Rosette, she and I met many years ago when Nicholas was still working on perfecting the stone, she always goes to females that she deems as worthy. I have asked her to serve you while you are at the trial, merely think of her and she should respond to you. No one knows about her except maybe Nicholas, she's always been careful to hide herself when we had company. Merci, Rosette." She added stroking the phoenix and offering her a crisp.

"Hello Rosette, would you be willing to take me to the trial?" asked Harry hopefully. In response the phoenix nudged him and flew from his arm to his shoulder.

"Perfect, being taken to the trial by phoenix will leave quite an impression by all, trust me on that. Good luck cher coeur, are you sure you don't want Nicholas or I there?"

Harry shook his head, "No grand-mère I want to keep the fact that I know you as secret as possible."

She smiled, "You are learning then. Bonne chance," she said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He smiled back at her and whispered out, "Here we go," before both he and Rosette vanished in a flash of flame.

…

Albus Dumbledore newly reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot stood up and cleared his throat. "Your attention please, we will now review the case against Harry James Potter. Mr. Potter is accused of breaking the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy. Mr. Potter is further accused of escaping ministry custody and ignoring official summons. The Interrogators are Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Amelia Susan Bones, and Rufus Scrimgeour, Court Scribe is Percival Ignatius Weasley. Now please bring in the accused."

At this Fudge stood up and addressed the Wizengamot. "Honored members of our ruling council, Harry Potter attempted and succeeded in escaping from the ministry after his hearing to progress to a trial. He is therefore not present in this court today, and in his absence I move that we proceed to judgment, and as he is guilty directly to sentencing, he is after all…"

Fudge's tirade was interrupted by the sudden and very impressive arrival of Harry James Potter and Rosette. "Bloody Hell! That beats Portkey!" Came a loud voice from the floor causing no small amount of the assembled witches and wizards to begin to laugh quietly.

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat a familiar twinkle in his eye. "Order please! We will have order here."

After a few minutes the gathered populace finally seemed to get control over themselves and allowed the trial to begin. "Now that the accused is here as requested by the Wizengamot we will commence with the trial. Does anyone stand for the defense?"

"I do!" came a gruff, almost raspy voice from the entrance of the courtroom. Around him the volume increased as people whispered in disbelief over who had emerged to handle the defense. Even Dumbledore himself was surprised at this newest revelation. Though his eyes were still twinkling in amusement the gob-smacked expression on his face was worth at least a medium strength patronus. Harry noted that and hid a smirk as he looked over. "Professor Moody! I haven't seen you since school let out, how are you doing?"

"Can't complain Potter, I've heard you've had a busy summer so far."

"The usual, escaping death-eater attacks, only to be arrested by a pompous over-inflated minister who's too busy clutching at the straws of respectability to actually do something about Voldemort's rise. Just like last year in a way." He added giving Fudge the evil eye, he had spoken so quietly before so only Moody could hear him and then Moody barked out a laugh.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all." Though he normally objected about being referred to as kid, there was something about the way Moody did so that put him at ease. Possibly because Moody called Tonks the same thing.

Albus again cleared his throat. "If we may proceed…" Harry and Moody nodded and made their way to the defenses table. Moody swiveled his magical eye onto the table and chairs before sitting down, making a point of keeping his wand loose in his grip.

Fudge let out a nervous breath. This was not going according to his plan, the Potter brat's entrance pushed a lot of wizards and witches to his side as phoenixes were well known for siding with light wizards. "We will first deal with the issue of the magic usage before we begin the proceedings for escaping from ministry custody. Mr. Potter is it true that last year you were brought on trial for casting magic?"

"It is."

"And is it true before your second year at Hogwarts you were registered as casting magic while underage and given a warning?"

"It is."

"And is it true that the next year you blew up your aunt forcing the ministry reversal squad to correct the situation?"

"It is."

"And is it not true that on June 23rd you cast several spell in succession while in a large area populated by muggles."

"It is."

"Then by your own admission you are guilty of breaking the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy, do you have anything to add before sentencing?" 'Perhaps', he thought to himself, 'this will work after all, the stupid brat doesn't seem to be able to do anything for his defense.'

"I do, but I believe my advocate has something to say before I begin."

"Aye lad, that I do. I formally submit to the Wizengamot as exhibit A, the Pensieve recollections of three muggles that the ministry Obliviators failed to wipe. These memories will show that Mr. Potter was not alone in casting spells, but was doing so defensively while protecting himself from death eaters. According to addendum's to both the statue and restrictions, magic use in self defense is permissible."

"That evidence is well and good, but do you have any further proof that doesn't come from Muggles. You should know, Alastor, that the testimony of a muggle has little bearing on proceedings here. You may enter your evidence but know that it cannot be shown until the completion of sentencing." Fudge smiled, he had picked the right man in Rufus Scrimgeour.

"Oh we have two more pieces of evidence Rufus, and might I compliment you on your promotion to head of the Aurors? It must have been difficult to earn with your intellect."

The insult went over Fudge's head who was nodding politely while Rufus bristled at the insult. "I present to the Wizengamot as exhibit B, my own Pensieve memories of forensic examination of the crime scene. I'm surprised that your men didn't notice the trails of spells. It was plainly obvious to my magical eye that several spells with different wand signatures had been cast in the area. The Aurors used to be good at detecting little things like that."

Both Scrimgeour and Fudge bristled and then blanched as they realized they had overlooked the possibility of Moody's magical eye, but both seemed to come to terms with it quickly enough. "An eye witness account by the counsel of defense, well it seems rather fishy to me but you may enter it as evidence."

It was Moody's turn to bristle. The interrogators were supposed to simply take the evidence and present it. Not make snide comments that would undermine their effectiveness. He felt Harry's hand pat his shoulder. "I've got this last one Moody, I'm going for maximum shock value."

Moody nodded and sat down; Fudge took that as a sign to begin talking. "With that over I now ask the Wizengamot to weigh the overwhelming evidence that Mr. Potter is guilty of breaking our most sacred laws against evidence that is at best…"

"Excuse me, Fudge, but I wasn't finished yet."

"How dare you interrupt me boy!"

"How dare you interrupt me! By all rights of wizarding law I should have a seat on the Wizengamot by right of birth! Or have you forgotten your own laws!" Harry then pushed the cloak he was wearing over his robes, which fell off to reveal the seal of the noble house of Potter causing voices to once again echo through out the chamber.

It took five full minutes before order was restored and Harry then continued. "However that is not the issue I have come to press, I have not finished my defense so I will thank you to sit down and let me continue unless you are trying to simply shove me aside in order to make your own mess look better."

"How dare you!"

"I dare, because I can." He said utterly calm before continuing. "As the defense I now call to the stand a Mr. Saul Gibbons! I also ask for the court to permit the use of Veritaserum!"

His requests once again fired up the people present even as a phoenix flamed in, but this time he carried a man secured by bindings directly into the witness chair.

Moody nodded to Tonks who looked to Madam Bones who nodded to her and she approached the witness stand with a bottle of Veritaserum. After placing three drops on the mans mouth she nodded and stepped away. This time Madam Bones handled the questioning.

"State your full name."

"Saul Gibbons."

"State your date of birth."

"October 3rd 1967."

"State your Hogwarts house!" said Harry before he could stop himself.

"Slytherin." Came the reply and Bones glared at him.

"Are you a death eater?"

"Yes."

"Did you frame Mr. Potter?"

"No."

"Please tell the court what transpired on June 23rd."

"The dark lord summoned us. He told us he had a special assignment for us. Bellatrix was our leader for this mission. We were to go into muggle London and kill everyone around a certain area. When we got there we found the Potter brat with his relatives. Seeing the opportunity Bella taunted him and they began to duel. We then joined in the duel. We fought for a little while and then left. I later learned after we left the Aurors showed up and arrested Potter for magic use. We enjoyed that, it almost made up for the _Crucio_s we had to endure for our failure."

"And how did you come to this trial Mr. Gibbons?" asked Scrimgeour, hoping to at least learn a bit about Harry's whereabouts.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember I was in Germany recruiting for the dark lord when there was a big explosion. The next thing I remember I was sitting in this chair looking at all of you."

"Very well. Aurors! Take this death eater away!" and he was picked up and dragged off from his chair. Once again Amelia Bones leaned down to face Harry Potter. "Once again you have my apologies Mr. Potter. It seems that the Ministry is obsessed with trying to have you arrested."

Harry smiled, "It's quite alright Madam Bones, after having Voldemort trying to kill me for the past several years, it almost seems like a summer's breeze to deal with the Ministry of Magic."

Moody held back a chuckle. He had to hand it to Potter. The lad had in one sentence managed to both insult Fudge and set Bones at ease, not always an easy thing to do.

"The Court will now begin to address the second set of charges against Harry Potter; the charge is resisting arrest, and ignoring Ministry summons. Mr. Potter how do you plead?"

"Madam Bones I submit to the Wizengamot my pensive memory of the incident. With this, I consider my defense closed."

Harry then pulled out his memory of his Auror guards telling him what his fate would be. After viewing it there was an angry mutter from around the Wizengamot.

"Mr. Potter it appears in this case you were brought to the ministry even though clearly innocent, treated to a sham of a hearing, and then had your sanity and soul threatened by those who are supposed to be protecting you. This court finds you innocent of all wrongdoing and strikes this incident from your name. We further award you five thousand galleons for your troubles, and offer you the sincere apologies of this court. Have a good day."

Harry bowed to Madam Bones who smiled down at him and then stalked towards Fudge and Scrimgeour where she began to have a heated conversation with the two men.

Harry noticed Dumbledore making his way to see him and quickly wished he had brought a pre-made portkey. It wouldn't do to be caught creating his own especially right after his own trial.

"Harry my boy! Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you."

Harry managed to give the professor a smile; it was the same one he wore in potions but as he wasn't close enough to notice he doubted that he would.

"You'll have to excuse me headmaster I have pressing business elsewhere and I really can't stay." He shut his eyes and thought as loudly as he could Rosette if you're out there help!'

In answer to his thoughts the phoenix appeared in a burst of flame grabbed Harry by the shoulders and then the two of them vanished in a ball of flame, leaving a flabbergasted Albus Dumbledore in their wake.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: If I owned theHarry Potter Universe I'd have a pile of money, instead I own the Reflections universe, and that won't see the light of day for a long time so to amuse myself I'm borrowing from J.K. Rowling and Rorschach's Blot. I also own the Project WhirlWind universe, but that might be even further down the road then Reflections.

Special thanks to CassieP and KDtheRavenclaw my ever wonderful beta's one of whom is probably wondering why she hasn't seen the first chapter of volume two yet. (It's comming) Also thanks to everyone who's reviewed, I'm overwhelmed by the response including a couple of arthurs I really like all I can say is wow. Thanks. I hope everyone continues to enjoy readind the series as much as I enjoy writing it. Fudi

**Chapter 9: As I Am**

Harry and Rosette appeared in a burst of flame at the Flamel's home in Devon, where he was wrapped up in a smothering hug that rivaled Molly Weasley's.

"Congratulations mon coeur, you are now a free man again."

"Thank you grand-mère. It'll be nice to be able to walk outside without the glamour spells, or the charmed necklace and pendant, though I will say I can put those to good use."

"Yes and with the trial over you have three more weeks before September first. Are you ready?"

""Well I have to pick up my supplies for Hogwarts but I wager that I can take a day and get everything."

"No problem, dear. Are you ready to continue your training?"

"Oh Yes! I'm definitely ready for more training. What are we going to be studying?"

"Well, Arthur informed me that you would be going to the Burrow for the last week before you leave for school, so for the next two weeks you'll work with my friends Smythe and McLain to learn more muggle solutions to problems. You'll be training in a room under a time slowing spell so you'll have near to a month-and-a-half for the training. Harry, time manipulation is considered a class 5 violation just under the casting of the Unforgivables, so you must store the information about how to perform these spells under your most secure Occlumency barriers."

"Are you ready?"

"May I get my school supplies from Diagon Alley first? That way I won't have to think about anything except training."

She smiled. "that's a wonderful idea, dear. Perhaps you should contact your friends, as it will be the last time you see them until a week before school starts, and I'm afraid Arthur's daughter is included in that. I'll be training her personally so she won't be joining you for your new training sessions."

He nodded and wished that Hedwig was there so he could send them a letter. Answering his wish his familiar winged her way into the room and landed on his shoulder, nipping his ear. "Hedwig! How are you? I missed you, girl! Ginny told me she was taking care of you. Did you enjoy your time at the Burrow? She hooted happily and nipped his ear again.

"Can you take a letter to the Burrow, and then one to Remus for me?"

She looked at him as if to say what are you waiting for' and held out her leg. He quickly penned out the letters asking the Weasleys, Hermione and Remus to join him in the Alley the next day and Hedwig flew off. That done, he went to the room that the Flamels had set up for him and collapsed in it, feeling better than he had in days.

…

The next morning dawned bright and early, but Harry had beaten the sun up by a good two hours. He dressed quietly and then began to run laps around the garden. After he finished three miles worth of laps he began push-ups, sit-ups and the squats. Just as the sun began to peak over the horizon he finished, made his way to the garden, and took a good look around. Taking in the view from the outside he took several cleansing breaths. Like Ginny, he loved the garden especially in the mornings when the air was still. Organizing his thoughts he walked into his bathroom. Nicholas Flamel had set it up for him. Before actually meeting the man, all he had known about him was that he was a potion master and an alchemist. After he had met him he learned that he was a transfiguration master as well. He walked through the area of the bathroom that cast multiple cleansing charms on him, and then he walked out feeling refreshed and awake and proceeded to get dressed. His godmother, the master of charms in the Flamel household, had done that part, and he really appreciated the ability to cleanse himself so quickly.

"Good morning grand-mère," he said as she walked into the kitchen where he had already placed breakfast.

"My, you're even up earlier today than usual. Excited about seeing your friends?"

He nodded happily as he finished his toast and with a wave of his hand his plate was cleaned and floated back to the cabinet.

"You're getting very good at that. Only two bands today?"

"Yes, just in case something happens while we're in the alley, I didn't want to have to take time to remove one of the bands. Why do I have to keep at least one on all the time?"

She smiled at him; she had wondered when he would ask that question. "Power, dear. Both here and at the Department we have magical dampening wards so you can use your wand if you wished, but there is a limit on how much they can block. If you were to take off your second band the wash of magical power would be enough to trip every sensor that the ministry has."

"Oh." He was quite subdued at that admission. "Am I really that powerful?"

She smiled at his shy and almost remorseful response. "Well, mon coeur, yes you are. But there are other wizards at your level; they've just learned how to control their magic. You'll learn that soon enough, but right now we are trying to increase your power. There is no need to learn how to control the magic at your present level only to have to relearn it every few days. The fact that your power is still growing is actually a very good sign. You're almost at Albus' level."

His mouth dropped open in shock. "No way! Professor Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard of his age."

"And you will be the strongest wizard of your age," she placed her hands over his own. "I beg you Harry, never abuse your power, but also never ignore it."

"Ignore it?"

"Do you know why Dumbledore has manipulated your life so much?"

He snorted but then grew serious. "The prophecy?"

"In part. Do you know what most feel is his greatest accomplishment?"

"I'm guessing it's not discovering the 12 uses of dragon's blood?"

"Albus killed the dark wizard Grindelwald. It was the first and last life he ever took directly."

"That's it?"

"Yes, Dumbledore has great power, perhaps greater than Voldemort, or at the very least equal to him. Your friend Moody puts it best though, he is obsessed with turning dark wizards back to the light rather than just killing them. Moody has said he thinks that Dumbledore would willingly sacrifice another's life if it meant he could turn a dark wizard back to the light."

Harry collapsed to the ground. "He's planning to manipulate me into becoming a sacrifice to turn Voldemort isn't he?"

Perenelle pulled him up to a chair and then sat next to him and pulled him to her. "That might be his intention. He's been training you to be willing to face him, but never trained you so that you'd be able to kill him. At best you could hope to break even. He worries over protecting the world from dark magic, but is too blind to see that if he would use the power he's been given, he could stop much of it. Instead he relies on a prophecy and allows a child to face the most evil and vile wizard to come along in centuries. But you aren't alone any longer; Nicholas and I, Arthur's family, and the Department are all behind you now. Moody is as well, and I never thought he'd come back to active duty."

"Moody went back to active duty for the Aurors?"

"Amazing isn't it? He had said that he had done his duty chasing dark wizards, but something about you stirred him to get back into the fight. Now, don't worry about Albus Harry, he won't try and harm you, any more than he already has, but he will try to manipulate you. He wields guilt like a master swordsman wields a sword; so expect him to lay it on thick how worried he's been about you. If he pushes you to go back to your Aunt and Uncle's, it'll be easier to agree with him and we'll deal with it from there. Now, are you ready?"

Harry nodded. Perenelle gave him a grandmotherly kiss on the top of his head and then pushed him gently toward the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley!" came the call, and with a burst of flames he was gone.

…

"Where is he?" asked Hermione, pacing around the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hermione would you relax, he'll be here any minute now."

"Are you sure he'll be here? What if the people he was staying with decided to keep him! Then we'll never see him again."

"Really Hermione aren't you over-reacting a bit?"

"Over-reacting? I don't see you with a several hour long gap in your memory Ginevra Weasley." She snapped.

Ginny's temper flared for a split second before she took a calming breath. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you used my full name, because I know whatever caused your memory loss has really upset you Hermione. But I strongly suggest you learn to calm yourself instead of always reacting in a panic, as it upsets the people around you and does nothing to calm your own nerves." Ginny's tone was almost icy and set the older girl back a bit.

"I'm sorry Ginny!" she cried out, "I'm just…"

Ginny held back a sigh. Hermione was the closest thing she had to a sister, and while the older girl was almost always composed and very brilliant, she was also quite obsessive. Of course suddenly realizing you've got a two hour block of time missing would make anyone concerned.' "No, I'm sorry Hermione. I was so worried about Harry's trial yesterday, that even after he was declared innocent I didn't sleep well. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"What exactly are you taking out on Hermione, Ginny?"

Hermione, Ginny, and Ron whirled around to see a pair of familiar green eyes peering out from behind a new pair of glasses.

"Harry!" Hermione launched herself at him and almost tackled him to the floor. Harry held her in the hug while spinning her around to take away some of the momentum and then put her back down on the floor.

"Wow mate, that was impressive!"

"Alright there Ron?" he asked, right before Ron grabbed him in a brotherly embrace that would have given his mother a run for her money. Harry took a deep breath just to make sure he didn't have any cracked ribs from the two enthusiastic welcomes.

"Hullo Harry," said Ginny, giving him a light embrace and then quickly letting go. "To answer your question, just some general frustration. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Okay. Well, let's get some shopping done, then some ice cream I think. That'll be as good a time as any for us to chat," he said after catching a look from Hermione that said clearly, 'I want to talk to you.' The quartet set off into Diagon Alley, heading first for Gringotts and then, at Hermione's insistence, agreed to visit Flourish and Blott's next. As they approached the bank Harry slowed his pace drawing Ginny away from the others. Keeping his voice low so as to not be overheard, he gave Ginny a pointed look. "Are you having nightmares again?"

"It's nothing Harry," she said, somewhat embarrassed. When she had come over for training one morning to find him curled up in a ball on the couch, she had shared with him that she still occasionally had nightmares from her first year, even with all the help from the Unspeakables.

He looked like he wanted to say more but with Hermione and Ron a scant ten feet in front of them he let the matter drop, and instead gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "Hermione's going to need your support in a little bit." She whispered to him and he nodded. He had been briefed on what the headmaster had done to his friends.

They picked up their pace to join Hermione and Ron as the entered the building and got in line for one of the tellers. "Hello, Griphook. How are you doing?"

He glanced around nervously as the room quieted and everyone's attention was on the goblin and himself. "Err, did I do something wrong?"

"No Mr. Potter, it's just that you are the first wizard in two centuries to walk into this establishment, recognize, and greet an employee."

"Really? Why don't any other wizards have manners?"

Griphook hid a chuckle. "I think their definition of manners may differ from your own Mr. Potter. Would you like to visit your vault?"

"Yes please. May my friends come as well?"

"They may accompany you to your vault, but only the one you have chosen to mate to, sorry, your term is 'marry,' may enter with you."

"I guess that means I go in alone. But I'd like us to stay together just the same."

Ron looked green as they were herded into one of the Gringotts carts. "Oh no…" he moaned, right before Griphook tapped the control and the cart took off, following the narrow and winding caverns until they arrived at Harry's trust vault.

"Your key, Mr. Potter."

Harry handed him the key and then entered his vault. He quickly stuffed a large amount of galleons into his moneybag and exited the vault. Griphook resealed the vault and then returned them to the surface, where Hermione went to exchange her muggle money. Griphook handed Harry his key back and gave him a pointed look. "Should you ever find yourself lonely, Mr. Potter, remember you now have friends at Gringotts."

Harry blinked and then nodded, understanding the double meaning. He slipped the letter that he had been palmed into his pocket with his key.

With the banking done the group made their way to Flourish and Blotts to pick up their schoolbooks. While Ron only took those necessary for his classes, Hermione was in her element as she browsed the shelves nimbly picking out volumes here and there. Harry also started to browse around for a few other additions.

He had decided that no matter who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was he was going to continue the D.A., though it would be undergoing a bit of revision. His first task would be to teach every member he accepted into the new D.A. the art of Occlumency. He knew Snape was getting in their heads, and he was willing to bet that Dumbledore was as well. He would also be teaching the members how to fight. But this time around he was going to be much more selective on who got in. There could be no chance of betrayal with the members this time – there was too much on the line.

After ten minutes of browsing during which Ron had become increasingly impatient, he walked out of the bookstore with a stack of books that rivaled what Hermione had picked up, and that was enough to rival one of the larger shelves in the Hogwarts library.

"Blimey Harry, I know that Hermione reads a lot, but since when have you gone through books like chocolate frogs?"

"The place I stayed, Ron, didn't have much by way of entertainment, so I mainly read about spells and stuff." It was not technically a lie; it just wasn't all of the truth, either. Seeing the look on Hermione's face he held up his hand. "Please, Hermione. During ice cream, but not before. Let's finish our shopping first."

She looked disappointed, so he walked over to her as Ron and Ginny entered into Quality Quidditch Supplies. She turned to him in surprise. "Harry aren't you going in?"

He shook his head. "No, I have already bought a new broom, because even if I'm allowed back on the team my Firebolt is one of the best mementos I have of Sirius, so I want to keep it as safe as possible."

The two sat down on a bench near the entrance. "Harry, I don't know if you heard where you were, but I somehow lost two hours a month ago. I've never been able to not recall an event before, and I'm scared. I think I might have post-traumatic-stress disorder."

"Have you told your parents Hermione?"

"I can't! I don't want to worry them."

He nodded at her assessment. "Hermione, I really do think of you as the sister I never had, and I'd do anything to help you. I can ask the people I was with to look into what happened to you, but I can't make any promises."

Hermione almost broke down again, but this time was in relief. The constant nagging feeling that something was wrong in the back of her mind would finally be put to rest. One thing she was sure of, if Harry said he'd help her he would. And he'd do it too; he didn't know the meaning of failure.

Ron and Ginny rejoined them, and they restocked potion supplies, picked up some parchment and quills, grabbed some owl treats and finally finished up their shopping with a stop at Madam Malkin's, where all four had their robes altered for a better fit.

With all their shopping done, they went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor to relax a bit. They were planning to visit the twins' store before they went home for the evening. Harry was sitting next to Ginny and chatting with Ron about Quidditch when from the corner of his eye he saw Hermione tense up. Ron's eyes opened a bit in surprise, but other than that he had little or no reaction to the visitor they were about to receive.

"Hello, Harry. It's good to see you out and about."

Harry took a calming breath and made sure his constructed memories were in place and his real memories were locked in his deepest Occlumency barrier before turning around. "Hello headmaster. It's good to see you. Are you well?" His response was careful – not too angry, but not friendly; he and the headmaster had not parted on the best of company after all.

Ginny's response was even frostier than Harry's was. "Hello Professor, what brings someone without political capital to this humble table of students."

Ron looked aghast. "Ginny! Where are your manners?"

Ginny looked like she was about to start a row with her brother right there but Harry prodded her and she stopped herself. "Do you need something Professor?" asked Harry who noticed that Hermione was now staring at the Headmaster with an odd expression on her face.

"Yes, Harry. I'm sorry you have had difficulties this summer, but it is imperative that you spend at least two more weeks at your Aunt's home to recharge the wards. We need them to be strong just in case anything happens during the school year. You never know when you might need a safe place to go."

"I wouldn't call the Dursley's home safe in any sense of the word, unless you think that abusive, violent and perpetually mean spirited people who make Snape look cheerful make a safe home."

"Professor Snape, Harry, along with a good deal of the Order, has been trying to find you this summer, to protect you, at no small risk to themselves," replied Dumbledore, beginning to wield his favorite weapon. "I know that Miss Vance was injured in an attack by death eaters while trying to search an area we thought you might be hiding out in."

"My life is the only thing I have that is my own right now, and at Privet Drive I'm practically a slave. It isn't your right to take the only thing that's mine." Harry replied evenly.

Dumbledore wasn't about to let up. "Several other witches and wizards have pledged to help out as well. You would do them a disservice to ignore the protection placed on Privet Drive."

"I don't want to go back to that place. It's little better than Azkaban as far as I'm concerned."

"Harry you have two choices, return to Privet Drive for the next two weeks while we re- enforce the wards at another residence in which you will be happy, or continue to needlessly endanger your friends and people who are risking their lives to protect you. It is rather childish for you to throw away other peoples' lives and sacrifices."

Harry almost choked at those words; of all the hypocritical smatterings of cock and bull…'

Ginny quickly stomped on his foot before he could let his emotions get the better of him.

Dumbledore didn't seem to notice, or at least he did not stop talking. "Even Remus has been frantic with worry, and since Professor Snape was out searching for you he was unable to make the Wolfsbane potion, and the poor man had to lock himself in a cage until the full moon passed."

Harry sighed. He didn't want to waste the day arguing with an infuriating old man. And, the truth was, he was worried about Remus. "Fine, when we're done shopping I'll go back to the Dursley's. Now, is there anything else professor?"

"I thought you might like to have this back," replied Dumbledore.

"My wand!" said Harry, honestly happy to have it back. He took his wand, resisting the urge to cast magic with it. Instead he placed it in his back pocket. "And here I was thinking I'd have to get a new one from Ollivanders."

"I was trying to give it to you after your trial. Tell me Harry, how did you come by a phoenix? And where have you been all summer?"

Harry sat down. He only wanted to go through this once, so he'd tell his friends at the same time. "After my arrest, I was being led away by a couple of Aurors. One was telling me how they were going to send me to Azkaban until my trial and how they were hoping I'd be insane or soulless by then. I panicked and attacked my two guards knocking them out physically. Really I just hit them on the head with the binders. Then I took their wands and tried to get out of there. I ran into more Aurors so I ran in another direction. I remember seeing a group of men and then I saw a flash of red and the next thing I knew I was waking up in a soft bed. Another wizard greeted me but he had some kind of haze around his face. He told me I would be safe there and that I'd be kept there until my trial. I was allowed to walk around, and to read through their amazing library, but for my own safety I had to stay on the property. Then the phoenix arrived to take me to my trial."

As he had told his story Dumbledore browsed through the boys' mind to look for a bit more information. They had also taught Mr. Potter a bit about Occlumency, but he was a master Legilimens. His feather light touch on the mind was so light that none but the best Occlumens noticed his presence; he felt confident that Harry would never know what he was doing. Satisfied that Harry's words matched up with his memories he withdrew his presence from Harry's mind, and then nodded one last time at Harry. "I will wait for you at Privet Drive to ensure that you arrive safely."

Harry nodded coldly to the professor and then turned his attention to his friends. He had felt the headmaster's intrusion but didn't react to it. That was the hardest part for him. Instead he let him believe that his legilimency was flawless and unnoticed. He made a note to ask the Professor and H.G. for some devices that would block the mind in the same way that Occlumency did. It would take his new D.A. time to master the spell and they would need protection from the beginning.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked her, concerned at the look in her eye.

"I'm not sure Harry, when I look at the headmaster it's as if every fiber of my being is reacting to him, but I'm not sure why." Harry blinked in surprise and glanced at Ginny who was mirroring his expression. While what Hermione was describing was theoretically possible, the mental power required to break through a memory charm without outside influence was astronomical.

He closed his eyes and used his mage-sight to make sure the Dumbledore had indeed gone. He then used one of the vision charms on his glasses to look for magical spells and signatures. There was nothing cast around them, but he did find that there were at least eight spells on his wand. He made a mental note to check what was on it later and then turned his attention back to Hermione. He caught Ginny's eyes and slowly ate a scoop of his banana split and then looked at Ron, and then Hermione. After the glance he blinked three times. Get Ron away for a bit.'

Ginny's response was to blink twice. Are you sure?'

He tapped his knuckle on the table in a seemingly random pattern. Yes, I'll deal with the consequences.'

"Hey Ron, since you've finished your sundae let's get another one."

"What are you on Gin, you know I'm broke."

"My treat for my favorite brother."

At the promise of free food Ron hopped to his feet and Ginny followed him over to the counter to place his order. She continued the earlier conversation they had been having about the school's Quidditch teams.

"That was very smooth Harry." Said Hermione apparently not missing a single bit of what had happened between Harry and Ginny.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised my big sister saw through my act." He said earning him a punch on his shoulder. "Hang on a tic." He said and then cast a wandless privacy ward around them. He made sure to include his wand assuming one of the eight spells on it was a listening charm. Outwardly he glanced around to make it look like he was checking to see if anyone was listening in.

"Hermione, I can't tell you exactly what's going on between Ginny and myself. Can we just say that at the beginning of summer before everything happened she managed to exchange a letter with me and we've come to an understanding?"

Hermione bit her lip and then nodded. "What's going on that you wanted to talk to me privately?"

"Hermione, you are about a hairs breadth away from doing something that, until now, has only been thought possible. Believe me I'm chuffed about this, but we have to proceed with caution." He paused and took a deep breath. "Hermione, what do you know about memory charms?"

His words acted like a trigger and as soon as he spoke them realization flooded through Hermione and with that realization the floodgates opened and her memory was restored. "No, he couldn't have! He's effing Dumbledore, the defender of light!" she began to cry openly now and Harry added a very strong notice-me-not charm to the wards he had put up.

"Budge over Potter." Harry spun around to find Ginny pushing him aside so she could give Hermione a hug. The distraught witch clung to her friend like a lifeline. Ginny held her and rubbed her back murmuring soothing words of comfort, much like her own mother had comforted her many times in the past. "It's going to be okay Hermione, we're going to help you through this." A second later Harry found himself being drawn into the hug with Hermione's other arm holding him like a vice.

After a couple minutes Hermione composed herself, released them and looked back to Ginny giving her a grateful smile. "Thank you, I needed that."

"I couldn't leave it to Potter, he's sweet and has got a good heart, but he's still clueless about us girls."

Her words had an immediate effect on Hermione who laughed; "Yes he is, isn't he? So tell me how did you two get so close you could tease him like that."

Ginny blushed but it was Harry who spoke up. "We can deal with that issue later. Are you alright now Hermione?"

"Yes, it's just taking some getting used too. I think I was on this thought process before this happened and the thought pattern triggered a subconscious loop that re-activated the blocked memory."

"Thought pattern?"

She nodded, "I was realizing just how much the Headmaster has interfered with your life, and I knew you two weren't getting along at the moment. That's when Kingsley arrived to take me to Headquarters, said it was important. I got there and so did Ron and we talked with the Headmaster who thought we might know what happened to you after you escaped. Then Snape used legilimency on us, and while we were recuperating Dumbledore hit us with an Obliviate, made us write a letter to you, and then wiped our memories afterwards."

Harry and Ginny traded another look, as Ginny had suspected something like this since the day her brother came back, just not to this extent. "What did Snape see in your memories?"

"He saw our suspicions of the headmaster, but little else."

"Ginny."

"I know Harry; I'll talk to him about it. We should continue as planned for now."

"What's going on between you two? And since when have you looked to Ginny for instructions?"

"It's not instruction Hermione it's agreement. As for the rest of your answer, are you aware of the term operational security?"

Hermione nodded.

"Good, consider this a practical application. For now Hermione, act as if nothing has happened. You're safe at the Burrow – trust me on that. Beyond that say nothing to anyone, especially Ron. I love my brother but Merlin knows he's not the best person in the world to rely on when it comes to sensitive information."

Hermione nodded as Harry cancelled the wards, again without his wand. Hermione, who never saw the wards go up, assumed the motion of his hand was to swat at a bug or something. At the last second, he paused, and then decided that until he caught the Knight Bus he would keep the privacy ward around his wand.

"Hey you three. I thought you left me for a minute there. Let's go visit the twins' shop."

They all nodded, but a careful observer might have realized that three out of four smiles seemed a bit forced.

…

"Harry old chap!"

"Just dashing to see our chief investor."

"Though we've got some news for you."

"News that you'd find hard to believe."

"Not just hard, near impossible,"

"Improbable"

"Indescribable"

"You'd never guess it in a million years." They chimed in together at the end.

Harry glanced at Ginny; he had been busy at the Flamels and rarely made it back to the Ministry so he didn't know if they had been approached yet. She caught his eye and smiled back at him answering his unspoken question.

"I'd have to say it'd have something to do with a professor?"

Fred choked and George smacked his back, a bit too hard as it sent Fred to the floor in a crash. "How did you know we were going back to Hogwarts?"

"WHAT!" the ringing reply came in perfect unison from four voices.

"It seems like the young and prodigious Mr. Potter meant something else."

"It was quite amusing to see the shock in his eyes,"

"Indeed it reminded me of someone else who we rarely get the drop on."

"And if you two continue this line of inquiry you might find yourselves with a bat-bogey problem."

The twins shuddered. Pranksters supreme and genius inventors; they really seemed to only have two fears, both of those fears being female, redheaded, and related to them.

"What about the store?" asked Ron, still in shock from learning his brothers would be back in school.

"We'll continue the mail order business, and we've already found a friend willing to take over the shop for us."

"We're trying to appease mum, she really went spare when we dropped out like we did, so we agreed to go back to finish up our time at Hogwarts."

"Plus we never did get to prank Snape the way we wanted to."

"And we needed a special victim to try out our new line of Lurgy Lemon Lozenges."

The two shared an evil gleam and then Fred wrapped an arm around Hermione and Ron, while George mirrored the motion with Harry and Ginny.

Fred was giving a loud soliloquy about their wondrous new line and how they would be testing it repeatedly to make sure there were no problems. He then began giving the two a tour of the facilities starting with production in the back room.

Meanwhile George quietly whispered to Harry and Ginny, "We're in. Cover names are Jekyl and Hyde. The Professor and H.G. are moving into the flat above the store and will handle the mail order end of the shop for us. We'll be with you two at Hogwarts to give you any additional support you might find yourselves needing."

Harry was glad he had left the ward on his wand and traded a look with Ginny. "That's brilliant! We're going to have some fun this year."

Ginny smiled, meeting his godmother had done wonders for Harry. "I've got a few plans of things to do to the slimy gits. Let's nail them first."

"No, first we nail every member of the old DA, ourselves included. It'll throw everyone off the trail."

Ginny and George's eyes both lit up. "Harry that's genius!"

"I'm not the son of a Marauder for nothing," he replied. George's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning.

"You are! That's brilliant! Who?"

Harry smiled. "Prongs was my father. To answer your next question: Padfoot was Sirius, and Moony is Professor Lupin. Wormtail was that traitor Pettigrew, whom I will personally beat before killing him this time around."

George ran over to Fred interrupting him by whispering in his ear. Fred's eyes glazed over and he glanced at Harry before speaking, "You mean Professor Lupin was, is Moony?"

To their surprise it was Ron who answered. "Well yeah, you guys didn't know that?"

"Bloody hell even Ron knew? Our ever clueless brother Ron?"

"Hey!"

Before a fight could break out Ginny placed one hand on Fred's shoulder, a second later he winced, and half a second after that he was trembling. "Okay! Sorry Ron, I didn't mean to insult you I was just surprised as you are the least inclined of all our brothers, well except for Percy, to pull any pranks."

Harry looked at Ginny in awe as Ron gave his younger sister a wary look nervous about becoming the next victim. "I accept your apology."

"Now that that's settled why don't we get something to eat at the Leaky Cauldron, it'll probably be my last good meal for a bit."

"What do you mean Harry?"

"Dumbledore's making me go back to the Dursleys so I'll be safe," he held four fingers up and made fake quotation marks when he said the word safe.

"Why are you listening to him?"

"You managed to give everyone the slip earlier!"

Harry shrugged at the twins. "It was easier to agree than to have to listen to another minute of his constant guilt trips."

…

The group enjoyed a hearty meal complete with a nice treacle tart for pudding. When it was finished Harry took his purchases and made his way towards the door. Before he could make it out he was enveloped in a crushing hug between Ginny and Hermione.

"Be safe Harry," whispered Hermione to him.

"Midnight," was all Ginny said, and he nodded in understanding.

…

"Harry my boy, glad to see you arrived safely. I have spoken with your Aunt and Uncle and you should have no problems for the rest of your time here. Now, if you will excuse me, I must attend to other business." 

"Why certainly professor," he said out loud, as he thought, Manipulative old goat. I know where I stand, I won't change to fit your plan.' He kept his thoughts tightly controlled so as to not broadcast them, and the headmaster vanished with the quietest of pops.

"Boy! Get your freak self in here before the neighbor sees you!" snapped his uncle. Harry sighed. Some things, it seemed, would never change.


	10. Chapter 10

If I owned the Harry Potter Universe I would be wealthy enough to buy Gringotts, unfortunately (for me) J.K. Rowling and her publishers already do. I did borrow a bit from Rorschach's Blot, but I don't think it's gonna be enough… As always special thanks to my Beta's CassieP and KdtheRavenclaw. Thanks to the group at Rorsch's Yahoo Group who must be insane to put up with me. And an amazed thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I'm constantly amazed how many people seem to be enjoying this story. One chapter left for volume 1, and then volume 2 starts.

Chapter 10: Shine 

Harry had never bothered to unpack his things. For one he didn't want the Dursleys to know what he had, and for another he wasn't planning to stick around long enough to get anything done.

He was lying on what passed as a bed to his aunt and uncle. In reality the floor would probably have been more comfortable. He used his mage sight to take a good look at his so-called super wards that forced him to return to this hated place every year and blinked in surprise. 'That can't be right.' He thought to himself.

Convinced that he wasn't seeing things right he activated several of the charms on his glasses and examined the area. He saw the aura of two people outside on patrol obviously members of the Order, and four wards up, one he recognized as an identity ward. It would keep wizards and witches from knowing who was here unless they already knew, it worked similarly to an anti muggle ward magical people who didn't know he was here would find themselves remembering they had other places to be. Another was a stronger ward that would prevent someone wishing him harm from casting magic at him, not that it worked against the physical beating he got. There was of course the token anti-apparation anti port-key ward, but Croaker had managed to apparate through it so it couldn't have been that strong. But it was the last ward that drew his attention. The so-called blood ward protection. The ward that Dumbledore said forced him to remain at Privett Drive because it would only work here where his blood relative aunt lived.

"A bloody third year Hogwarts student could get through that ward" he said to himself in anger. And that was ignoring the fact that Voldemort now had some of his blood. The ward itself might once have been very powerful, but years of abuse he'd received at the hands of his uncle and aunt showed that blood meant little and the power of the ward reflected that fact. No Privet drive was not the safe place for him to stay, and certainly not safer than the Burrow. At least there he'd be with a family who cared about him.

Determined not to focus on the fact that he was once again stuck at Privet Drive, he used his mage sight to take a look at what spells had been cast on his wand. If the wards around the Dursley's made him blink, the spells on his wand made him choke. He was half tempted to just snap the bloody thing and be done with it. His earlier assessment of eight spells was one off there were nine. Five of them were different tracking spells. It looked like two had been placed by the ministry and three more by Dumbledore if he read the aura off of them correctly. Two monitoring charms designed to overhear conversation, again one by the ministry and one by Dumbledore. The last two spells had to be Dumbledore's, one was set to record any spells cast by the wand, and the other was too detect spells cast on the wand. He had a moment of panic when he recalled placing wards on it, but he examined the spell carefully writing out what he could make of it. After a detailed analysis that would have made Hermione proud, he concluded that it didn't detect wards, only charms, hexes and curses so he should be safe.

At midnight on the dot he heard a buzzing from his trunk. He ran over to it to open it and with a wave of his hand created a silencing ward around it. He opened up the trunk just in time to hear an almost panicked voice yelling. "Harry James Potter if you don't answer me right now I'm going to hex you!"

"Sorry Gin, I didn't realize you were going to use the mirror." He said by way of apology.

"And just how did you think I was going to contact you?" she asked icily.

"With this." He replied holding up the charmed tactical radios they had used on their field mission.

"Oh." She replied blushing, "Sorry Harry but when you didn't reply right away I started to get worried that the muggles or Dumbledore had done something."

"No, but you wouldn't believe what I found on my wand."

"What?"

"A bunch of tracking and monitoring charms."

"Have you removed them yet?"

"No, why?"

She gave him a big grin. "Just leave it for now. I'm with grand-mère she said that she'd come and take care of things tomorrow night, she had to arrange a few things with our trainers first."

"Our trainers? I thought we were getting trained separately."

"That's what the original plan was but she told me something happened to change the time-table, and Hermione's going to be with us as well getting occlumency training."

"What about Ron?" he asked, feeling a little guilty.

"He's going to be getting special training of his own, Moody decided to return to the Auror's but he's also doing some private tutoring to those he's deemed worthy. Ron and Neville will both be training with him for the rest of the summer even after our two weeks." She said sticking her tongue out after mentioning the length of time, Perenelle had already briefed her about the time spells.

"That's great! I was worried about them, and Luna too, any word from her?"

Ginny grinned, though she and Harry had been together for the better part of the summer so far, the time and environment hadn't been encouraging for any idle chit-chat only talk of training. This was the first time they had really talked since the start of the whole ordeal. "Luna's dad is a former Unspeakable and the Quibbler is a front for getting news of events in InterBUn for former operatives, there's enough randomly added hogwash in it to make people discount the rest of it. It's genius actually, I'll never forget the first time I saw something from the department in print, I almost had kittens!"

Harry laughed and then suddenly blinked. "Wait does that mean Crumple Horned Snorkacks actually do exist?"

Ginny just gave him an odd look through the mirror and then giggled. "Go to sleep Harry, I think you're showing signs of sleep exhaustion and dementia."

Harry smiled and, using his finger, gave her forehead an almost affectionate tap on the mirror. "Good night Gin, and thanks."

The smile she gave him was filed away in his patronus shelf and as they were about to shut down the connection Harry heard, "Ginny who are you talking to?"

"No one Hermione," she said loudly and then to the mirror she gave another wayward smile and whispered, "_Out_" cutting off the connection.

…

Harry awoke with a start and kept his eyes closed and his breathing slow. Something felt wrong. He tried to focus on his room and let his magical sense expand out… There in the corner was a magical presence that did not belong. He twisted his left wrist slightly, and one of what he had dubbed spec wands shot out into his grip. Channeling a little magical energy through his body to increase his reflexes he yanked his blanket off and rolled out of bed, bringing the wand up in one smooth motion.

"HARRY POTTER SIR!" screamed the now deliriously happy house elf, ignoring the fact he was at wand-point and throwing himself at Harry's legs hugging them happily.

"What the… Dobby!"

Before anything else could transpire Harry enclosed his room with a well placed silencing charm.

"Dobby! What are you doing here!"

"Oh Dobby is making trouble for the great and wonderful Harry Potter. Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" He cried as he attempted to slam his head into Harry's trunk only to be stopped gently by Harry's hand.

"It's no trouble Dobby, I was just surprised to see you and was wondering what brought you here."

"Oh Dobby is a free elf and quit at Hogwarts so Dobby is looking for work before Dobby's magic fades."

The last part of the comment was nearly enough to make Harry's heart stop. "Dobby what do you mean before your magic fades?"

"All house elves must be attached to a building or a family, if they are not their magic fades, sir. While Dobby worked at Hogwarts there was enough magic for Dobby to charge."

"Dobby, why aren't you still at Hogwarts?"

"Oh great and wonderful Harry Potter is so kind to ask about Dobby, Dobby quit Hogwarts when Dumblydore wouldn't help Harry Potter."

"Dobby if you quit Hogwarts what about your magic?"

"Dobby would rather lose all magic than betray the great Harry Potter!"

"But Dobby without magic you'll die!"

"Dobby doesn't care."

Harry thought quickly, Hermione would kill him but he had always had a soft spot for the excitable house-elf and there was no way he'd just let him die. "Dobby would you work for me as my house elf employee? I'll pay you of course."

Dobby looked up eyes bright and misty before once again launching himself at Harry's feet. "The great Harry Potter would want Dobby to work for him? Harry Potter is too kind."

Harry smiled at the house elf's antics, and bent down on one knee so he could look at the house elf directly. "There are a few rules I have Dobby, One is that you may not tell anyone my secrets unless I give you direct permission and by which I mean I tell you to tell that person directly." Dobby nodded so he continued. "The second rule is that you may not punish yourself. And you must wear clothes, they can look like a uniform but no tea towels, I want real clothes." Dobby nodded happily again and pointed to his feet where he was wearing, among other things a pair of mismatched socks. "Finally I don't want you to be a slave so I will pay you similar to the deal you had at Hogwarts, say 10 Galleons a month plus weekends off?"

"Dobby will take no more than one Galleon a month with no days off."

"Five Galleons and you may take any days off you wish."

"Two Galleons, and Dobby will request time off when needed."

Harry wanted to argue with him to take more money but he sighed when he saw the look in his eyes. "Fine, are there any other elves in danger of losing their magic?"

Dobby nodded sadly. "Winky is still not doing well, sir. She quit Hogwarts with Dobby but hasn't had any luck yet."

"Dobby I will offer Winky the same deal or better with you for the same rules."

Dobby smiled. "Harry Potter IS the greatest wizard in the world." And with that he popped out of sight and returned a split second later with Winky. After nearly an hour of tense negotiations, Winky managed to convince Harry to let her work for him for free. She explained to him that she would gain magic that she was losing from the bonding, and that in and of itself was the greatest form of payment to her.

Harry finally gave in when she agreed to no punishment and wearing a uniform the last two had taken most of the time to win. As it was dawn had arrived and with it the new day.

Harry made his way downstairs to fix breakfast, but as he reached for a pan his hands was slapped. "Master Harry will not be fixing breakfast, Winky will be fixing breakfast for Master Harry."

"But Winky I have to fix breakfast for the Dursley's as well, and please stop calling me master."

"If Master Harry refuses his title what should Winky call him?" she asked with a surprisingly mischievous gleam in her eye.

"You can call me just Harry, or Harry Potter if you have too, no master."

"Yes sir, Harry Potter sir."

"You don't need to add sir to the name Winky."

"Would Harry Potter prefer mam? It's part of being a house elf addressing witches and wizards as sirs or mams."

"But Winky what if I just want to be called Harry?"

"Then Winky will call you Harry, Sir."

Harry began to bang his head on the table when Winky smirked at him and said, "Harry Potter sir, there will be no punishing yourself."

Harry was about to reply to her again when he finally realized that she had managed to maneuver him into a chair during their discussion, and was already half-finished making breakfast. His mouth dropped open. "You did that on purpose?"

"Winky did what on purpose Harry Potter sir?"

"You... you…" he sputtered for a minute and then gave up. "I can't believe it, out smarted by a house elf, my own house elf. You're all smarter than you let on aren't you?"

"Harry Potter is more than he lets on as well."

Harry had to nod she had a point. "You're right Winky, and thank you for making breakfast."

Winky smiled back at him and then popped out of the room much quieter than Dobby did just as the Dursley's entered the room.

"About time you made yourself useful freak."

Harry turned away to get the currant jam from the icebox. Partially because Dudley wanted some, but more so his uncle wouldn't see him rolling his eyes. 'I could hex you wandlessly and no one would ever know you arrogant arse' he thought to himself as he served his Aunt, Uncle and cousin and then ate what was left, which was actually a fair amount. Even he enjoyed the meal, as well as he cooked, and doing it for over ten years meant he was quite proficient Winky was, he admitted to himself, much better than he was.

He gathered up the dishes as the Dursley's finished and made his way to the sink. Before he could start scrubbing them Dobby appeared with a pop and with a wave of his hand had the dishes sparkling clean and in their correct placement. He then popped back before the Dursley's realized anything was amiss.

The rest of the day continued in the same manner with him being given chores and Winky or Dobby taking care of them before he could. It left him time to train doing his morning regime of push-ups and sit-ups. Followed by wandless magic after he checked to make sure he wasn't being monitored.

After a lunch that went about the same as breakfast, Harry begged off dinner claiming he wasn't feeling well. Instead he took the time to have a little chat with Dobby and Winky.

"Winky what was going on during breakfast?"

Suddenly her cheerful and confident demeanor was gone replaced with a worried and fearful expression that had her wringing her hands together.

"Winky is sorry Master, but Dobby thought Harry Potter needed Winky to give him a mothers touch, Winky didn't know much about mothers but Winky remembered how Mistress Crouch used to be."

"Winky you were acting that way for me?"

Winky gave him a fearful nod and then was surprised when Harry pulled her into a friendly hug. "Thank you Winky that was very kind of you, I just wasn't expecting it. And Winky, you are better at it than I am but I don't mind cooking and cleaning so don't smother me to the point where I get dependent on you."

"But Harry Potter is too great a wizard to be bothered with…"

Harry stopped them both by raising his hands in surrender. "But doing things on my own from time to time is part of who I am, it's what makes me Harry Potter ok?" he saw their dejected looks and almost puppy dog eyes. "I'm not saying you can't do things most of the time, just every once and a while I need to remind myself who I am and where I came from okay?"

They nodded much happier when they realized that letting Harry work would only have to be a once in a while thing.

"Now…" before he could continue he heard a familiar voice coming from the mirror, this time he left it on his desk in expectation.

"Ginny?"

"I talked with grand-mère, first we'll get you to the Burrow and then to haven. Is it safe for her to ap in?"

"Well Croaker came through the wards so I'd think that grand-mère would be able to do the same."

There was a pause while Harry could hear Ginny telling his godmother what was up. A second later her face appeared back on the mirror. "Standby for incoming."

Before Harry could reply Perenelle appeared with a near silent pop.

"Oh good I see you already have some elves. Would you two be willing to help Harry?"

They nodded in unison. "Dobby would do anything to help the great Harry Potter."

Perenelle blinked and gave her godson a look, he mouthed later and she nodded. "Very good, Harry I need some hairs." A few seconds later Winky was holding a handful of his hairs.

"Now Add them to this and mix carefully please." She handed Winky a canister while she took out a length of wood. "Harry wand please."

Harry scurried to his desk and gingerly lifted it to her. "I have a privacy ward around it, it's got a charm detector so I thought that wards would be safe."

"Good call, now watch carefully." First with a flick of her wrist the wood was transfigured into a duplicate of his wand. Then she pulled out her own wand and Harry blinked he hadn't seen her use a wand before and this one was a true work of art. "Like the wand? It's a custom job by Olivander's great grandfather. Now watch this spell." She twisted her wand in a complex motion and then jabbed it at Harry's wand a series of lights shot out of hit and she directed them to the fake wand. "All the spells that were on your wand are now on this substitute."

"Amazing!" he breathed he had used his mage sight and all the spells on his own wand were now gone.

"We'll be returning the spells back on your wand after you go to the Burrow for a week, but for now this is the safest way to do things. Before you lower your ward let Dobby drink the potion and make sure everything is okay."

Dobby happily bounded over to Winky who shyly handed him the potion and he quickly downed it.

Watching someone change from polyjuice was an interesting ordeal and Dobby was no different. After a couple seconds there were two Harry Potters in the room.

"Excellent Dobby, you look like Harry, but can you act like he can?"

"I can act well enough to fool his muggle relatives, since the order isn't doing anything to talk to him directly." Replied Harry Potter who was staring at Harry and Perenelle.

"Thank you Dobby, I mean Harry." He said with a grin.

Dobby, that is Harry grinned back. "Dobby, I mean we'll be fine. Winky will help me make sure that all chores are done correctly without fat muggles seeing things, and will help me make sure I take that potion on time."

Harry smiled at them. "Thanks again you two, I'll see you in two weeks." With a wave of his hand the wards around the wand collapsed and Harry gave himself and Winky a look. The two nodded back and Perenelle touched his arm and apparated them to the Burrow.

As soon as Harry appeared, he was tackled in a fierce hug from Ginny. "I'm sorry you had to go back there," she whispered to him.

Surprised at the embrace he blushed and then smiled back. "For a greeting like that, I'd gladly go there on a regular basis."

Ginny blushed back and then the two grew serious, playful banter over. "Grand-mère, you gave me some generalizations but what's the plan?"

"While your brother is training with Moody you will be accompanying me."

"But what about Mum?"

"I'll take care of your mum, gather what you need for a few days, you can clean your things so you needn't take too much with you. You're friend Hermione will need the same amount of clothes. Harry as you were already packed would you check the wards here and add anything you think is necessary."

Harry grew pale. "But grand-mère…"

"Trust me Harry. Just focus on what you want them to do and let your magic do the rest, Ginny do hurry along I want to be out of here within five minutes."

Ginny heard the urgency in her voice and ran up to her room that she was sharing with Hermione. Even from downstairs she could hear Ginny's attempt at rapid packing. She took a deep breath and then walked into the kitchen.

"Hello Molly, how have you been?"

"Perenelle! I haven't seen you in ages! How is Nicholas?"

"He's doing very well I was hoping you would do me a favor."

"For the great Perenelle Flamel? Anything."

"I'd like to borrow your daughter for a couple weeks, Nicholas and I want to pass along some of what we've learned over the years to the current generation and we need some help to entertain our guests. In fact I saw her with a girl when I was walking in, could I borrow both of them?"

"Well, I suppose being taught manners by Europe's finest witch would do them both a little good, Merlin knows that Ginevra's manners are little better than her brothers. I'd be happy if you'd have them assist you in your entertaining. Is there a party?"

"There will be at the end of it all, and I'd love it if you and Arthur would attend."

"Well I don't know, I have little to wear to such an event."

"Well the large scale celebration will be very public, and I do know how you and Arthur value your privacy. But I'm also having a smaller reception for some family and close friends afterwards. Please do me the honor of your presence."

"Who am I to refuse the greatest witch of several ages."

"My thanks Molly."

"Anytime, let me go help those two pack."

…

Perenelle was then introduced to Hermione as Molly explained that they would be going with her to help prepare and participate in the Flamel's annual to-do event. Hermione looked excited for a moment as she realized who she was in the presence of, but then grew disappointed when she heard that she would be acting as party planner and waitress.

Ginny did nothing to break her out of her notions and led her outside while Perenelle finished her goodbye to Molly.

"Hello Hermione good to see you again."

Hermione whirled around at the voice to see "Harry Potter?" she nearly screeched in surprise, or would have screech in surprise if not for the silencing charm already in place.

She glared at him and then gave him a hug. Perenelle joined them and handed Harry a port-key.

"You two will travel with me by floo. Harry see you there, pass is your travel to the hearing."

"Yes grand-mère. Rosette." He said activating the port-key.

Her mouth open in shock Hermione wordlessly followed Perenelle Flamel and Ginny to the Floo where they too departed.

…

If Hermione had been shocked at seeing the interaction between Harry and Perenelle, the closeness between Harry, Ginny and Perenelle was even more mind blowing. She was finally startled out of her silence when Perenelle told her that while yes, she was throwing a large to-do the real reason she had asked her here was to train with her.

Perenelle pulled Harry into a corner and held a long whispered conversation with him while Ginny took Hermione to her room.

"Ginny you have a room here."

"Well, yeah, it's not like grand-mère would let me sleep with Harry."

"That's not the point the point is… wait what did you call her?"

"Grand-mère, it's French for grandmother you know."

"I'm well aware of that, but how are you so acquainted with the most powerful witch of several generations that you can address madam Flamel with such familiarity."

"Partially because every time I addressed her as madam Flamel, or My lady, or Lady Flamel I got my hand slapped. Eventually I learned to address her as she wished."

Hermione shook her head in confusion there was so much going on…

Ginny saw the look on her friend's face and guessed at what it was. "Relax Hermione, I've spent a fair amount of time here this summer so she gave me a room to use, and it's close to Harry's you should see him after he works out."

"Ginny!"

"Yes?"

"I thought you were over him?"

"Over my silly little crush? Yes, but Harry's become a good and real friend, the fact that he could make a Quidditch athlete green with envy with his physique doesn't hurt does it?"

Hermione just shook her head over her friend's antics. "So now what?"

"Now we go back down and you probably get started with grand-mère on your training."

The pair made their way downstairs and Perenelle took Hermione aside and nodded to the two.

They smiled and left.

"Hello dear, I understand your name is Hermione Granger and you are a muggleborn?"

"Yes Madam Flamel."

Perenelle gave her a light glare. "Ginny and Harry have both already told me they thought of you as a sister, and as Harry's godmother." She paused while Hermione gasped at this admission, "I have the right to insist you refer to me as grand-mère, or at the very least grandmother."

"But, you're…"

"Old? Dignified? Beautiful? Cunning?"

"No, well yes, but… You're Perenelle Flamel!" she finally cried as if that explained everything. Perenelle sighed, Harry had been difficult enough but this would take some time.

…

Harry and Ginny made their way to a large door on the Flamel estate in Devon, it was located not farm from the gardens. "Ginny, do you know what to expect?"

"Grand-mère mentioned a few things to me. She also told me we'd be living under a time slowing spell and she mentioned physical and magical training."

"She made a few changes to the plan. We will spend one-hour real time in the training room and live through 73 hours during that time, then we will exit and spend the rest of the day training with Hermione and grand-mère. In order to gain the longer time period we have to be out of the chamber for 23 hours to let it reset itself."

"So we get four full days less an hour every day?"

"Four full days of constant and continuos training. Let's go." He said offering her his hand and opening the door. They walked into the atrium and were met by three men.

"Well, I'm glad you two decided to join us. My name is Smythe, and this is my partner McLain. Also with us is a good friend of mine, and you already know Nicholas. Here is your new schedule."

He handed Harry and Ginny a piece of paper they quickly read it becoming more determined with every line.

0600-0700 morning calisthenics  
0700-0730 showers, breakfast  
0730-0800 morning meditation  
0800-0900 arithmancy theory Flamel  
0900-0930 combat/strategy theory Smythe  
0930-1100 Unarmed combat, Sword work McLain  
1100-1200 Firearms, care of firearms Smythe  
1200-1300 Lunch break  
1300-1400 Ancient Runes Flamel  
1400-1500 1 advanced transfiguration Flamel  
1400-1500 2 advanced charms Flamel  
1400-1500 3 advanced potions Flamel  
1400-1500 4 advanced wandless magic Flamel  
1500-1530 Advanced spell creation Flamel  
1530-1630 Battle Magic Salibard  
1630-1730 weight training, endurance training Smythe/McLain  
1730-1830 teamwork training Clark  
1830-1900 showers  
1900-2000 supper  
2000-2200 spell research, independent study, free time, meditation  
2200 Curfew

…

It was the last day of training. To everyone else fourteen days had gone by, two solid weeks of time, 14 days, 336 hours, 20160 minutes. For Harry and Ginny it was the end of a long 56 days of constant training, studying, and getting to know each other better. They had covered the 'school' topics with Nicolas Flamel, which had been like learning from a favorite grandfather. Their muggle firearms training with Smythe had caused a bit of confusion at first, until he explained that even though most witches and wizards did not use firearms, they might come across them in the muggle world, and he wanted them to be prepared. They had both dreaded the sessions with McLain, but they had come to appreciate the fact that he was turning their adolescent bodies into fit adult bodies. All in all, they knew the experiences from their training had been worth it. On this, their last day, their schedule was still in effect but they would be doing different projects in each time slot.

After the calisthenics which had both little more than breathing heavy they breezed through their showers, breakfast and meditation, and then came to Arithmancy. As soon as they entered the room Ginny froze and collapsed to the floor. Harry looked over in terror to Nicholas Flamel who was sitting there calmly. "Operative Potter! Your Partner Miss Weasley was just hit with an unknown spell that you've never seen before. This is the incantation and the wand movements. You have 58 minutes to solve this equation and figure out how to reverse the spell before it becomes permanent."

Part of Harry understood this was just a test, the rest of him didn't care. This was Ginny, his partner, his friend, his…, he ruthlessly ended that train of thought and went to work wishing the world for a calculator.

Fifty three minutes later he moved his wand and spoke the incantation and Ginny was back to normal. He picked her up off the floor and despite her protests lifted her to the desk where he cast all the medical detection spells he knew.

"I'm fine Harry!" she said, exasperated by his sudden emotional response.

"Sorry Ginny, you have no idea what it felt like to watch you drop like that and knowing I had to figure out how to save you." He bowed his head so she had to strain to hear him, "It was worse than when I saw you take that stunner in the department, I at least knew how to counter that spell."

She blinked surprisingly touched, and pulled his head to her shoulder and patted his back, he was obviously still shaken. "I'm fine Harry, now take a deep breath, we've got combat training."

…

For combat theory Smythe had them analyzing different operations, including their own misadventure that ultimately resulted in the death of his godfather. Ginny was horrified at that, but Harry just nodded. "We were desperate that night and took a lot of foolish chances. Looking back now we were very lucky."

Ginny hung her head low. "My performance was miserable I panicked when Ron was attacked by the brain and because of that I was hit with a stunner."

Harry tapped her chin with his finger. "You have the strongest will I've seen, don't let one mistake hold you back."

She grabbed his hand in hers, "You have the bravest heart I've ever known. You were willing to face Voldemort to save Sirius."

He nodded back and she released his hand. Then he turned his attention back to an amused looking Smythe. "It's about intelligence and getting the information you need before you move, the danger is in waiting."

Smythe nodded, "You did what you could to alert someone lad, McLain and I both would have done the same. Working special operations, sometimes you have to go in and take the risk based off the information you have. I know you've been beating yourself up over this for some time right? Answer me this, what if Black was being tortured and you spent all night trying to confirm it or reach someone else?"

"He would have died or ended up insane from curse exposure."

"I know it's a hard lesson, but learn it well, sometimes you can do everything right and still end up wrong. That's why we trained you two as hard as we did, for when things go wrong you have to survive."

Harry and Ginny nodded, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

…

McLain was proud of the pair he had beaten on for the last 55 days. Their reflexes were now up to par and their attacks were not the laughable amateurish attempts they had been over a month ago. Harry's skill with a blade was now such that he could comfortably use it in real combat. Ginny stuck to small daggers most of which she coated in a sleeping potion. Both of them had become proficient enough in martial arts that he was confident they would be able to survive a fight if they lost their wands.

He grinned; those two would be quite good no matter which world they chose to work in the muggle or magical world. And if they chose to work in both he was sure he'd see them again. That was just the way the community of black operations worked.

…

Smythe looked on with a bit of pride over the two he had been mentoring. Fifty six days ago the two had been in fair physical condition for civilians, but now between their youth and determination they could make most aurors look out of shape. Their skill with firearms certainly wasn't up to the military specialists he normally trained, but it was far better than a civilian, and certainly better than any witch or wizard he had come across.

Their unarmed and blade training had like-wise improved. Though neither of them could be considered masters of the art, 'yet' he added, he was now confident they could function in His world, the real world as far as he was concerned. Being a squib did have it's merits, but with the death eaters on a rampage it also had it's dangers, of course there were ways to deal with those idiots.

He watched impassively as Harry and Ginny quickly drew their pistols and removed the center of their paper targets. 'Yes there are certainly ways to deal with those dark idiots.'

…

As they walked into their last ancient runes session it was Harry's turn to collapse and Ginny's turn to try and figure out what had happened to him. As she had been a student of ancient runes it only took her half an hour compared to Harry's fifty three minutes. Even so she slipped herself under his arm and helped him over to a desk and began the same routine he had done with her earlier that day.

"I'm fine Gin!"

"Bugger off Potter and let me finish checking you. Sorry about this morning though, I know how you feel now."

They exchanged a grin and then broke down laughing.

…

Harry knew it was going to be a tough test when he caught sight of Captain Salibard wearing dragon hide battle robes.

Salibard nodded to the pair and pointed them to the side where there were two ranges set up for them. "Potter, Weasley this will be a test of magical power and ability. You will cast standard spells at the targets down range. After you complete this task I will allow you to begin casting battle spells downrange. Remember these spells are not for everyday use. Battle magic is considered a class two dark-art and can only be legally used during a time of war according to the ministry of magic. This is why you were taught battle magic spells from different countries because their use does not fall under the same legal rulings.

The pair began casting, and casting, and casting. The battle magic spells were fair but not over impressive in their opinion, but Salibard smiled at both of them. "Casting Battle magic spells is very draining, very few Aurors ever manage to learn more than one or two spells."

"But we learned… at least fifteen spells!" protested Harry in surprise.

"Of course, and I expect you'll read and learn more over this year or I will be thoroughly disappointed when I see you next year.

They nodded mutely and he smiled before vanishing.

…

The two were quite tired by the time they were to finish their team-work practice. Walking into the room the pair was immediately besieged by a torrent of spells. Ginny immediately cast a protego shield. Harry followed by summoning his wand from his holster and cast several protective rune wards around them.

Ginny began throwing stunners from the points the spells had come from. First she heard a thump and then the part of an unconscious body shimmered into view as it slipped out from beneath an invisibility cloak. She glanced to Harry and tapped her eyes with her free hand.

He nodded and then used his mage sight to look for targets. Seeing one he threw four stunners in rapid succession. While the first two spells missed the last two dropped the target. Ginny looked at him questioningly.

He furrowed his eyebrows and then held up two fingers.

She nodded and pointed to herself.

He gave her a questioning glance.

She glared back at him.

He shrugged and dropped the wards. The moment he did three more spells arced towards them. Ginny threw multiple hexes back at the points the spells came as well as the area around them. Harry cast a small shield he had found in a book about ancient wizarding sports. He then knocked the three stunners back with his shield charm.

One of the spells he knocked back had the good fortune of hitting its sender. Looking up to make sure it was clear he had to bite his lip to not laugh. The last person had fallen victim to Ginny's infamous Bat-Bogey hex that apparently went right through normal protego shields. She then took pity on her target and dropped them with a well-placed stunner.

"Accio Wands!" said Harry and six wands came to his awaiting hand.

Ginny quickly secured the targets and placed anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards on them.

"Excellent work!" exclaimed Clark right before he was hit with four stunning spells. His unannounced entrance resulted in Ginny grabbing one of Harry's spares from its holster and he had snapped two of his own out. As one they had tossed four stupefies all of which found their target.

After reviving their immediate supervisor he congratulated them and shook his head at not announcing himself first. He then set about taking care of the downed operatives leaving Harry and Ginny free to clean up and go to dinner.

…

Perenelle and Nicholas were waiting for them in the sitting room. The training was officially over and there was a grand party scheduled for the next evening. After this last mentoring session Harry would return to the Dursley's for the next two days while Ginny would help Hermione working at the party. It also meant a crash course in proper etiquette but that would happen after he left.

"We are very proud of you two, Smythe and McLain have had much good to say about both of you and it's not easy to win their praise. We wanted to go over the results of your magical training and we thought this would be a good time to share what we've observed. You are better with runes, curses and hexes." She said to Harry. "While you dear are much better with potions and in arithmancy. You both share considerable skill with charms and transfiguration. In fact I would recommend you begin to consider animagus training."

They blinked; they hadn't been expecting that as she continued. "Harry you already were an expert with dual wand dueling and you've only gotten better at it. Your specialty seems to be shielding with one hand while casting with the other that's considered one of the most difficult tasks with two wands you know. Ginny up till now you've only worked with one wand; unlike Harry you don't seem to be able to use defensive and offensive magic in conjunction as well. Oh don't look so disappointed dear, the fact you can use two wands at all is impressive and very few can hold a shield while throwing spells. No your strong point is casting curses and you do it faster than most. You both have become very impressive with wandless magic I trust I don't have to remind you to keep that ability an absolute secret?" Two heads nodded in unison.

"Ginny dear if you'd be kind enough to join Hermione I'd like to have a few words with my godson." Ginny got up and hugged Perenelle.

"Certainly grand-mère, good luck Harry."

With that she gave Harry a quick glance and mouthed 'See you in two days.' He nodded and turned back to his godmother.

She was smiling at him seeing the earlier exchange. He blushed appropriately he wasn't quite sure where he stood with Ginny, good friends for certain but beyond that? He shook his head to clear his thoughts and gave her his full attention.

"Ah to be young and looking for love," she crossed the room and gave him a motherly hug. "The kind of love that has been denied you so long." She seemed to be on the verge of tears but it only lasted a split second before she cleared her own mind.

Nicholas had left with Ginny giving the two some bonding time before Harry had to return. "Oh my," she ran her hand through his hair trying to straighten it out. "Lily often mentioned your father's hair would never come under control I see you inherited that." She smiled and then grew serious and produced three books. "Now I know that we won't be able to see each other untill at the earliest next summer. Your headmaster is going to be watching you like a hawk so take extra care. In fact you'll have limited contact with any InterBUn members minus the ones we are sending you."

"Grand-mère why are you telling me this? I don't want to seem rude, but isn't this kind of thing an operations briefing?" As soon as he said the words he could have smacked himself in the forehead. He had grown so accustomed to thinking of Perenelle Flamel as his godmother that he had totally ignored the fact that she was in charge of InterBUn.

She smiled as she saw the expression run across his face. "I know mon coeur, but because of who you are we are taking some extra precautions. She held up a box of vials each filled with a silver liquid that he recognized.

"Are those?"

She nodded. "Basil, Croaker, Callienta, Carver and most recently Clarks. They are all memories of yours, Ginvera's, Arthur's, Tonks' and the twins real identity. They will only know you by your code names. You will never return to the Department of Mysteries as an operative or agent. Your assignments will come either from Arthur who will be your immediate supervisor or from a two-way parchment. Basil and Clark retain their memory as Arthur being the Ghost but no one else does. You are as of now released from your magically binding oathes of secrecy. As of now you will be independent of InterBUn, and the DOM. You will function on your own and have to recruit your own operatives."

Harry nodded but was confused. "Why all the added secrecy, I understand trade-craft but this seems extreme."

She sighed she had hoped to avoid this until the next year, but he had asked. "Harry for us the Unspeakables the biggest threat isn't dark wizards or witches, nor is it muggles. No our biggest threat is corrupt governments and I'm afraid that the Fudge ministry is one of the worst I've seen. He is supported by known dark wizard yet has the approval of most of the populace. Even Dumbledore is hesitant to go against the ministry right now. Should anything ever happen at British head quarters I want my best field operatives protected and this is the only way to do so. In fact after the party tomorrow Nicholas and I will be returning to the Flamel estate in France."

He blinked, of everything he was expecting this was not among them. She gave him another hug and then pulled out three books.

"These are for you luv," she handed him the books. "The first is a book passed down in my family, it was written by Merlin and then Rowena Ravenclaw herself added to the book. There are only two copies of this book that were ever made, and I think studying it will help you win your war."

He took the book gently and could feel magic radiating off the book. "The second is a book on animagus transformations. The last is something your mother left with me I think you should have it." The title on the last book was Mashing the Marauders, a guide to pranking pranksters by Lily Evans.

Harry was speechless. He knew Hermione would consider the book my Merlin the most precocious treasure in the world but to him a book written by his mother was more important than all the gold in Gringotts.

"I also arranged to have all the books your mother wrote while she was an Unspeakable transferred to your trunk. She was quite a prankster herself you know. I think you'll enjoy the book."

Harry nodded mutely as Perenelle drew him into one last hug. "Rosette will take you back to your room. Goodbye mon couer, I will see you in the next year." And then quickly drew away tears in the eyes of the legendary ice queen. She waved her hand and everything that was or could be traced back to Harry was placed in a trunk that shrunk and dropped into his pocket.

Rosette flashed into the room and sang her comforting song and landed on his shoulder. A flash later there was no longer any evidence that the boy who lived had ever stayed there.


	11. Chapter 11

Final Disclaimer of Volume One: Harry Potter and assorted cast belongs to J.K. Rowling. A few other characters mentioned or referrenced belong to Rorschach's Blot, who's wonderful story Make a Wish was one of three of the inspirations that led to this series. Special thanks for all the reviews, and to my wonderful Betas CassieP and KDtheRavenclaw. Volume two is currently in progress, (The first chapter is already in Beta). Hope everyone enjoy's the ride. Fudi

Chapter 11: Old Park Bench

Harry stared at himself. Literally, well almost literally technically he stared at Dobby who was polyjuiced to look like him. He quickly cast a privacy ward on the fake wand and around his room.

"Oh Harry Potter has returned to his room. Winky is so glad!"

Dobby waited a second and then he shifted back to himself. "Oh the great and wonderful Harry Potter has returned!"

"I missed you too Dobby, Winky. How have things been?"

"Stupid fat muggles gone to the store. Won't be back till late."

Harry smiled. "That's great! Listen I only have to stay here for tomorrow after that I'm going to stay with the Weasleys."

"Harry Potter is going to be with his Wheezys! Dobby loves the Wheezys especially the youngest Wheezy she used to visit Dobby in the kitchens!"

"Hermione will be there as well."

Dobby seemed happy but Winky was a little nervous. "Miss Grangy won't try to free Winky will she?"

Harry dropped to one knee to face Winky. "Don't worry Winky she may be the closest thing I have to a sister, but I won't let her free you no matter how bad she may want to."

Winky cried tears of joy and gave him a surprisingly strong hug.

Harry smiled and relaxed he missed Hermione, Ginny and his godmother, but this wasn't so bad either.

…

Ginny smiled elegantly for the hundredth time as she curtseyed to the entering couple. "Welcome milord and lady to the Flamel's annual gala. May I take your coats?" She accepted the garments and as soon as their attention was elsewhere used a wandless spell to hang them up on a rack beside her.

Beside her Hermione was doing a much better job. "If milord will follow me I will take you to the ballroom."

As Hermione vanished for a moment Ginny felt her blood go cold and she felt the urge to kill someone, especially the person walking up to her now. Instead she once again put on her fake smile and curtseyed. "Why Headmaster, welcome to the Flamel's annual gala. May I take your coat?"

"Why certainly Miss Weasley. I must say I am surprised to see you here. What brings you to the Flamel residence?"

"My mother wished for me to learn some of the more gentle arts, and Madam Flamel was looking for some extra hands tonight, I would say all parties were happy except my own."

The Headmaster chuckled. Despite their division among the order; the Weasley's were an entertaining family. He made a mental note to try and patch things up with the family patriarch at a later time.

Not wanting to let Hermione have to deal with seeing him Ginny took it upon herself to escort him to the ballroom after hanging his coat up the proper way. It wouldn't do to let him of all people get suspicious of her.

Having seen him to the ballroom she ran back to the entrance to resume her duties. She saw Hermione waiting for her return. "Ginny where did you go?"

"The headmaster decided to join the party, I didn't want him to know you're here so I took him in. Go find grand-mère and warn her?"

Hermione flushed and nodded. Ginny sighed as she once again resumed greeting the guests, thinking that even if he was back with those awful muggles Harry was definitely having the better night between the two of them.

…

Harry was indeed having a better night, he had finally read the letter Griphook had given him and discovered that the goblins had decided to officially stay neutral, but unofficially were throwing their lot in behind himself. They also offered to teach him goblin magic and warding. Re-reading that part twice he quickly penned his response.

He remembered from his lessons that in addition to very powerful combat useful spells, goblins had turned warding with runes into an art form and was quite pleased they were willing to teach him. He was just signing his name when Hedwig appeared.

"Hedwig! Hullo girl I've missed you!" she landed on his shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately.

She took the letter and flew off into the night. With little else to do he slipped on his suppression bands/reading enhancers and began reading through the book on animagus transformations. A few hours later he closed the book and made a mental note to go over it with Ginny the next time he saw her. Part of the process involved a horribly complex potion that he felt he was too prone to make a mistake on. 'Perhaps Hermione too, can't tell Ron though; he's too close to the ministry to get involved in something like this, that idiot Fudge would torment him just to get to me and I can't subject Ron to that.'

Reminding himself that he could no longer count on the support of the ministry he penned two more letters to Gringotts. "Winky."

"Harry Potter is calling for his Winky?"

Harry cringed; he was going to have to keep this a big secret from Hermione or he'd never hear the end of it.

"Yes Winky, do you know if Gringotts is still open? If it is can you take these letters to them, but Winky, I can't let them know they're from me, can you disguise yourself?"

Winky hung her head low. "Winky can't change the signature of her magic source. It shows on all elves, only other house-elves and goblins know how to read the flow."

Harry thought about what she said and then grinned. "Winky if I change my magical signature does that mean it would show up different on you?"

"Yes Harry Potter sir, but wizards are not knowing how to change the colors that... Harry Potter sir is the most amazing powerful and kindest wizard in the world!" she said as he changed his magical signature and her connection changed from blue to green. She took the letters and then with a muffled crack vanished from the room.

"Dobby?"

"Oh the great and wonderful Harry Potter is calling for his Dobby, Dobby is so happy that great, kind benevolent, generous, honorable, life saving Harry Potter called for him."

Harry blinked, Dobby had always had a soft spot for him but this was far beyond the norm even for the odd house-elf. "Dobby what was that all about?"

The little house elf grinned at him, "Oh Dobby just practicing for when Dobby meets your Grangy. Dobby wants to put on a little show."

Harry started snickering, after a few seconds he was wiping the tears from his eyes and getting up from where he had half-collapsed on the bed in gales of laughter. "Dobby that's fantastic I never considered you to be a prankster!"

Dobby smiled back. "Dobby knows and keeps it this way, Dobby helped with professor toad last year."

"Now Dobby that's not fair, that's too mean to toads everywhere."

The two of them laughed again; the little house elf's laugh was high pitched and wheezy. "Dobby You know I can change my magical signature right?"

"Dobby saw his change earlier to what it is now. Harry Potter is a very powerful wizard to do this, only those with great power and knowledge can change their magical signature."

"But Dobby I'm not the only one, Ginny can change her signature too, so can Mr. Weasley."

"Dobby didn't know your Wheezy's were that powerful, but it is true Harry Potter sir. House-elves can see magical power, it helps un-bonded house elves find families of powerful magic to bond themselves to. Dobby and Winky are much stronger now than ever because of the great Harry Potter's magic, Harry Potter has the best aura Dobby has ever seen."

"Dobby, speaking of that why doesn't the color of the bond match the color of my magical signature?"

"The color of our bond to wizards shows the relationship between house-elf and master. Harry Potter's normal bond is blue because he feels house-elves are like family. It is best type to have. When Harry Potter changed magical signature to green it showed he feels house-elves are friends. If it went to red it would be master and servant, the color of Dobby's bond when Dobby worked for the malfoys was the worst color. Black. Black shows cruelty to the house-elf and that the master enjoyed abusing the house-elf."

"So when I changed my magical signature so that Winky couldn't be connected to me our bond went to green?"

Dobby's little head bobbed. "Yes because both Harry Potter and Winky were trying to hide who he was so the bond's color reflects that. Dobby and Winky will have a green bond to Harry Potter's friends who feel the same way about them. Dobby also thinks that the best bond Dobby and Winky share with Harry Potter's friends is smallest Wheezy."

Harry blinked, 'Is Dobby trying to set me up for a date or something?' Before he could ask the question out loud Winky returned with a crack. She handed him a letter and he quickly read the contents and smiled. "Do you have any of that potion left?"

Dobby nodded. "Winky made sure we kept Harry Potter's Harry Potter potion."

Harry chuckled at the expression and then smiled. "Good, tomorrow I need you to be me for a little while. In fact, don't tell the Dursley's we're leaving."

Tomorrow would be a most interesting day…

…

Morning came at last to the Flamel estate in Devon. Ginny had stayed up through the party and happily returned coats to the leaving guests, no one's exit made her more happy than her own headmaster. 'Well perhaps minister Fudge' she thought to herself as she looked over to the lump on the other bed that was her best friend. She sighed and made her way downstairs cursing McLain's existence and his drilling of early mornings, she used to be able to lie-in until noon. Now her body was ready to go at the all-too-early hours of bloody six in the morning.

She found Perenelle in the kitchen sitting in the chair and reading an issue if the quibbler. "Last day grand-mère?"

"Yes dear. Nicholas and I will return to the manor in France tonight after the party. Now remember what I taught you, after all your mother is under the impression that you spent the last two weeks learning the gentle arts. Not only that but those extra skills we covered can make a lovely cover, something especially important for a field surveillance special operative. Remember dear, as much as you've grasped the combat aspect of your training, it's your job to get the information about what's going on before the spells start flying."

Ginny nodded her head and Perenelle pulled her in for a motherly hug. "Do watch over my godson when I can't please. Keep him safe and as out of trouble as he'll ever be. And never drop your guard, he's more alert and sensitive to danger when he's tense, but he lowers his guard far too soon for my liking. You two will make a splendid pair. I'll try and send you some small assignments."

Ginny smiled and felt the love that Perenelle had for her godson. "I'll do what I can, grand-mère, but Merlin knows I get into far more trouble than he does."

She nodded back to her and the two made their way to breakfast before preparing for another more low key party to be held that night.

…

The few witches and wizards who were out that early in the morning gasped and quickly found something to do elsewhere. He had probably been handsome once, but the years had obviously taken their toll on this man. His hair a mixture of black and white, his dark green eyes dull and void of signs of life. He was horribly scarred and where his skin was visible there were multiple scars across it hinting that what wasn't visible was probably worse.

He entered Gringotts and made his way to one of the tellers.

"May I held you sir?"

"Yes, I'm here to talk to a Goblin about making some real estate purchases."

"Of course, I'll get one of our acquisition managers, please wait here."

A few minutes later the goblin teller returned and took him to an office where an elderly and very dignified looking goblin awaited his arrival. After the teller left the goblin rose to his feet. "Greeting and prosperous days to you, I am Choksmok how may we assist you today?"

The man bowed back politely, "I am Mr. Black and I'm here to make some purchases of properties and I do not have the time nor the temperament to shop for them myself. Here is a list of locations I wish to purchase property in."

The goblin took the paper and his eyes went wide between small towns and large cities there were 20 locations listed on the paper. "For give my asking this Mr. Black but may I ask how you intend to pay for your purchases?"

"Do you take money? I will pay either wizarding or muggle currency depending on where I'm working when you contact me that you have acquired one of the locations I wish."

"Well Mr. Black as it happens we've have one location in London and another in Hogsmeade currently available if you wish to purchase them."

"Condition of those properties?"

"Both are in fair condition and though they are fairly small they should suit your needs quite nicely."

He nodded and then pulled out a money satchel. "I require all paperwork and I do not wish to have anyone able to trace these purchases to me, nor do I wish anyone to locate these purchases. If that costs extra so be it."

"May I inquire on what you intend to do to these purchases Mr. Black? Do forgive the inquisitive nature of this question we just don't wish to give the ministry further ammunition to attack our business with."

"I understand, I plan on taking the properties making nice little vacation spots and then rent them out to tourists from other countries. I've performed this operation in two other countries and while I occasionally have to deal with someone trashing one of my properties it has been a very lucrative deal. The main reason for the secrecy is I have two competitors, one in France the other from the colonies, they have taken to tracing my purchases and then acquiring their own properties near mine to try to rival my own operation."

"Well then all seems in order, your total for both properties comes to three thousand galleons."

The man with drew a large money sack and began counting the process of counting out. He hadn't gone too long when Choksmok offered him a scale. "This will make it easier Mr. Black it's set at 100 galleon increments just put them on until the scale is even."

A couple minutes later they shook hands and Mr. Black left with all records of the properties he had just purchased and Choksmok had begun his task of locating the properties his new client wished to purchase.

Mr. Black apparated to Hogsmeade and made his way to the first of his new properties. Using the key the goblins had provided he entered the building and looked around. It wasn't in bad shape there was a small kitchen, a tiny sitting room with fireplace, two bedrooms and a bathroom it wasn't much of a house but with magic it didn't have to be.

His first order of business was to get the wards up, he pulled out a wand and began.

An hour later he finished with the last ward on the property and the fireplace. The property was now unplottable, had anti-apparation, anti port-key in wards, and key-in wards on the fireplace. There were notice-me-not and repellant charms over the property and he had put it under an ancient version of the Fidelius with himself as the secret keeper, something that couldn't be done with the modern-day version of the spell.

Satisfied that the safe house now actually was, he deactivated his chameleon pendant, and Mr. Black shrunk a couple inches into Harry Potter, complete with vivid green eyes and messy black hair.

He began adding some luxuries to the safe house, including a powerful runic expansion ward that doubled the size of all the rooms. He made a note to get some furniture for the place, reactivated his Mr. Black disguise and then left for London where he repeated the process.

…

As he had finished his major tasks for the day Harry apparated back to his room and with little else to do for the time being set about reading the other two books that his godmother had given to him. He especially enjoyed the book his mother had written during her Hogwarts days.

"Does Harry Potter need anything?"

"No Winky I'm fine just waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

Before he could respond there was a knock on the door downstairs followed immediately by a "BOY, GET DOWN HERE!"

He smiled to Winky and Dobby who were looking annoyed at his Uncle's yelling. "Waiting for my transportation to arrive." he said and then ran down the stairs.

"Hello Professor, I take it my parole has just arrived?"

Remus smiled at Harry. "Indeed, two weeks of endless floo calls and howlers finally convinced the headmaster that you would be safe enough in another location."

"I wonder if Dumbledore just gave in to Mrs. Weasley or actually thinks I'll be safe there?" Harry mused to himself out loud following Remus to Mrs. Figg's.

Remus frowned for a second before shaking his head, at one point he would have berated Harry for his attitude regarding his headmaster, but after recent events he couldn't help but agree with him. "You realize your friend Ron is going to be busy don't you?"

Harry nodded and hid a grin. "A little bird may have mentioned something about Professor Moody but my lips are sealed."

Remus grinned and then frowned and looked over to the younger man. They had arrived at Mrs. Figg's and were now standing in front of the fireplace. "Are you okay with this? Ron's getting special training from a former auror, while you'll be at the Burrow with Hermione and Ginny."

Harry grinned at the elder werewolf. "Why Moony! Surely the last marauder would agree with me there are worse fates in the world than to be stuck in a house with two pretty girls?"

Remus barked a laugh and then looked thoughtful. "That's the kind of thing Sirius would have said."

"The flea bag had a lot of wisdom for someone who thought himself a dashing rouge."

Remus gave Harry a piercing glare. "I don't know what happened when you vanished from the ministry but it was apparently good for you."

Harry nodded back to him. "And Tonks has been very good for you as well."

Before Remus could respond Harry grabbed the floo powder and with a shouted "The Burrow" was gone. Remus shook his head and then apparated to the Weasley's ancestral home.

…

Harry tumbled out of the fireplace and managed to once again crash land. "Thank you to whoever the kind hearted person who put the cushioning charm here was."

"It's no problem…"

"Even though I must admit…"

"It was at the insistence of our little sister…"

"Though insistence might be the wrong word to use here…"

"Too right, she did after all nick Mum's wand…"

"And threaten to hex us until we begged for her bat-bogey hex…"

"And that's enough out of both of you, I still have Mum's wand after all."

"And why do you have that young lady?"

"Urk! Well Mum, I was…"

"She was just making sure there was a cushioning charm for me Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh Harry Dear!" She wrapped him in a bone crushing hug ending the chaos the twin's had started upon his arrival and reminding him that here, he was family. At long last she released him from the hug and then held him at arms length. "You look much better than normal dear, have those awful muggles been feeding you better?"

"Well not exactly, but I was able to eat for most of the summer, until the headmaster forced me to go back to the Dursleys."

"Yes, I can't understand why on earth Albus would do such a thing, surely he understands what kind of people those muggles are by now."

Harry shrugged and Ginny latched onto his arm. "Let's go, Hermione will want to see how you're doing."

He let himself be pulled from the room and dragged up to Ginny's room where Hermione was deeply engrossed in the book she was reading. As unobtrusively as possible Harry began probing Hermione's mind with the legilimency Perenelle had made him learn. She looked up instantly her hand reaching for her wand. She relaxed when she saw who it was and then frowned at him. "That was very rude Mr. Potter."

"My apologies Miss Granger, I was just checking your work, a perfect job as always I might add."

"And what about you Mr. Potter, how good are your shields?"

"Why don't you take a glance for yourself Miss Granger." He said and opened himself to her, at least that's what it appeared like he was doing. In actuality in addition to his formidable created defenses he used some of the lessons from his muggle training. His first barrier that was always active was similar to spider silk and served only as a tripwire. When it was sprung walls sprung up until his mind was an airtight fortress with titanium walls and firing ports.

"That's very impressive Mr. Potter, are you just doing this to impress little old me?"

Harry grinned back at her both enjoying the light banter until Ginny cleared her throat at the doorway. "If you two are done flirting around." She said with a light grin, "then we have some important issues to discuss."

"Get the twins?" asked Harry getting down to business.

Ginny nodded and left the room.

"All kidding aside it's very good to see you again little brother."

"Little? Aren't we in the same year?"

"Not my fault my birthday is after the year starts at Hogwarts, and yes little brother. As the elder sister it's my job to try and keep you out of trouble."

"Actually that's my job now, assigned to me by his godmother though we both agreed I'm more prone to getting into trouble than Harry is." Said Ginny returning with the twins.

The group rearranged themselves, finding comfortable sitting places. Harry nodded to Fred who, along with George began to put up privacy wards that made paranoid Mad-eye Moody look like an amateur. Even Hermione was impressed and let that be known causing the twins to blush.

"Well, with the things we get up to…"

"We had to make sure certain parties wouldn't be privy to our information…"

"Especially Mum, she'd go spare if she knew about some of our earlier planes…"

"But enough about that twin of mine…"

"I believe we're here for a reason?" they asked looking at Harry, Ginny and Hermione.

"Hermione, Ginny and I already know, do you want to tell the twins?"

She nodded and explained to them what had happened with the headmaster making both of them go pale. Though they had been recruited, they hadn't been cleared on Ginny, Harry or their father's operations.

"So the reason why we're here is to go over some supplementary equipment. I've got one of these for everyone. He passed out the tiny little charms, there were two earrings, four ankle bracelets, four rings and four tie clips. "Each one of these will prevent mental intrusions from legilimancy and protect the wearer from minor mental attacks."

"Why so many of them?" asked Fred looking at the pile set aside. The girls each had an earring, ankle bracelet, ring and tie-clip. He and George had the same minus the earrings.

"Because I want you to be able to vary what you're wearing to throw off certain parties. I know for sure that Snape uses legilimency on students. If he thinks that the ring is what's protecting you he'll try and force you to take it off making you vulnerable. And while I know that some of us have learned occlumancy these take no work or concentration to maintain. I chose ankle bracelets because I doubt any one is going to check your foot when they're trying to get into your head."

"Okay Potter, now that you've made sure we aren't security risks, spill it."

Harry nodded and then pulled out a bunch of bracelets, "I will need a drop of everyone's blood."

Around the room the responses were varied, The twins gave him a confused look. Hermione looked at him her eyes somewhat wide and her mouth opening in protest. Before she could speak Ginny pulled a knife out of somewhere and cut into her hand. Harry quickly moved to Ginny, put a drop of blood on a bracelet and then put a bandage on her hand. She then took her hand to Fred who vanished the bandage and used a healing charm to quickly seal the cut.

Both of the older Weasley brothers looked at their sister with newfound respect while Hermione frowned. "Bloody Hell baby sister!"

"Where'd you get the knife Gin?"

She gave him a teasing smile and shook her head. "Not telling Potter, a girl has to have some secrets after all."

Hermione looked back and forth between the two, and then spoke up. "What on earth happened to you Harry? You didn't say much when we met you at the Alley, but it's obvious whatever it was, was very good for you!"

Harry smiled at Hermione and offered her a bracelet. She took a deep breath and then took the knife from Ginny, delicately she pricked her finger and let a single drop of blood fall on it. She then held her finger out to Fred who did the healing charm again. She fixed Harry with a stare as Fred and George both took their own turns.

"Those bracelets are untraceable emergency port-keys that will take you to a safe house that was set-up earlier. They are now keyed in to your blood so that only you can use them. To activate them grab them and say sanctuary, you'll be taken to a safe place, if you need to take someone with you say emergency sanctuary and make sure they're holding on to it." He paused to take a breath and then looked at three surprised and one calculating faces. "Any questions?"

"Where does it go?" was echoed by both twins, while Hermione was asking about the spells on the bracelets.

"It will take you to a safehouse in London, one that is free from both the Ministry and Dumbledore's influence. It's a portkey spell, but the bracelets are made from a special magical reactive metal. A person who I know I can trust helped me with them."

"When did you two start working for the department of mysteries?"

"I don't."

"Don't lie Harry, you were rescued out of the ministry by an un-named party, managed to out-smart both the order and the ministry, though I will admit outsmarting the ministry doesn't seem to be that difficult with Fudge in charge. You then showed up in a spectacular manner at your trial produced a key witness who couldn't remember how he arrived there, in addition to getting Professor Moody the most paranoid person I know, to help you at your trial, prove your innocence and then vanish again. You reappear at the alley and seem to be having a secret conversation with no words to Ginny, and then you manage to get us some privacy by tricking Ron, that I'll also admit isn't that hard."

"Ouch poor Ronniekins" said Fred as Hermione glared at him and then continued.

"You showed open hostility toward the headmaster which I agree isn't exactly unfounded, and then managed to help me break through something that was thought unbreakable, and then you found me help, by Perenelle Flamel no-less. Then I find she's familiar with both you and Ginny, and then you come to the burrow after two weeks that the entire order thinks you spent at the Dursley's with occlumancy preventing jewelry, portkeys that need blood to work and take us to a secret safe place in London. Did I miss anything?"

"I don't think so Hermione, but I can tell you with complete and utter certainty that there is no one named Harry Potter working for the Department of Mysteries."

"And I can say the same about Ginny or Ginevra" she added with a distasteful look, "Weasley, or if there is she's obviously my evil twin."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at both of them and gave them both a glare that would have done McGonagall proud. "So what fake names are the two of you using?"

The Harry Potter at the beginning of the summer would have stuttered, shook, stammered or otherwise let slip that she had guessed right. The new Harry Potter had the benefit of a great deal of training, and association with the sneakiest of all the Weasley's. As such he didn't blink, bob, balk or bat an eye. Instead he simply said, "You've been reading too many muggle spy novels Hermione."

Instead of responding she held up her right hand that was now adorned with both a ring and a bracelet. Issuing him a challenging glare she finally spoke, "Come on Potter, James Bond doesn't have equipment this good."

"_Stupefy!_" Ginny nailed the bushy haired girl with a quick stunner tucking her wand back into it's holster as the twins gawked.

Harry nodded a quick thanks to Ginny before speaking. "Ok, before I enervate Hermione we need to agree on something here. As of now we are independent contractors for the International Bureau of Unspeakables. We have no affiliation with the Ministry of Magic, or the Department of Mysteries. Do we bring her in?"

"I say we bring her in, she's got a brilliant mind and to be honest we could use another person, she's already half-briefed anyway, it's just a matter of bringing her the rest of the way in. Grand-mère likes her too."

Harry nodded and looked at the twins.

"Hey you'll get…"

"No argument from us…"

"We know she's brilliant…"

"And she already distrusts Dumbledore…"

"So we think she's ready." They chimed in together.

He nodded back to Ginny who quickly reawakened Hermione who was now glaring openly at them.

"What was that for!?" she demanded angrily.

"Sorry Hermione you had to be cleared for part of this conversation before we could talk to you about it. Let's see," He paused to try and find an easy way to say this, finding none he forged ahead. "No we aren't employed by the department of mysteries, yes we have cover names. As of about a week ago we are independent agents for the International Bureau of Unspeakables, of which the Department of Mysteries is a cover for the British department. By telling you this I am placing you under a provincial contract and I will need your oath of secrecy. You must either comply or I will have to wipe your memory, and it'll be dangerous for you, we know you can throw off a memory charm."

Hermione recoiled for a moment but then her intellect dissected his words and she readily gave her oath. With that out of the way she asked what was going on.

Harry nodded to Ginny while he pulled out a piece of parchment and began writing on it. Ginny began the explanation.

"Right now we have three threats to deal with. First and foremost on the list is Tom Riddle, better known as Voldemort."

"Bloody hell Gin-gin!"

"You can say his name!"

"Shut it you two, let me finish." She snapped at the twins pulling out her special operations wand and gesturing it at them for emphasis. They visibly paled and did as they were instructed.

"Second on the list is the ever incompetent Ministry, though thankfully at the moment they aren't a big threat. More-so is Professor Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore; champion of the light and leader of the Order of the Phoenix. Normally due to his standing he wouldn't be considered a true threat. However we have reason to believe that, in addition to being unwilling to deal with death eaters in a permanent basis, he's also willing to sacrifice people on the light side to redeem those on the dark."

Hermione stared at her in horror and then looked at Harry. "He wants to use you to redeem Voldemort?"

"We think so. At least that's the only explanation for me not getting special training. So any questions?"

"More than you'd be willing to answer." She said earning her a smile. "But I've got a few to start with. Why not Ron? Why the twins and I? How does Ginny fit into all this? And what about Madame Flamel?"

Harry handed a note to Fred who read it, nodded and grabbed George. A moment later the twins apparated out of the room leaving Hermione, Ginny and Harry.

"Gin?"

"There are a couple reason's why we're not including my youngest older brother." She began ticking a list off on her fingers. "Don't get me wrong, I love my brother but, He'd walk around like the cat who had the canary. He doesn't have the mental prowess to master the occlumancy needed. He's too emotional to trust the secret too, imagine him getting in one of his snits and snapping something with the wrong people around. He's also in an advanced Auror prep program so we think the ministry is going to use him to monitor Harry, even if he isn't actively involved in the operation and yes." She held up her hand to stop Hermione's protest. "I know he'd never willingly betray Harry, what I also know is that Minister Fudge isn't above using illegal methods to keep tabs on people he sees as a threat and after the trial I think Harry is the biggest threat in his eyes."

Harry chimed in at this point gently squeezing Hermione's shoulder. "I'm not happy about leaving him out of this but this is for his protection as well as ours. Ron now has responsibilities and duty to the Ministry as part of his training program. What we are doing is protecting him. If we were to tell him what was going on he'd be at odds with his oaths to the ministry and some of those have some nasty effects. Especially with Mad-Eye as his instructor. I'm not going to cut him out or anything, but there will be times when we have to do things without him so be prepared, as he'll most likely end up a bit put-out with us."

"I think it'll be easier to explain how I fit into this before we get to the second question. After my horrible first year dad brought me to some specialist who work for the Department of Mysteries to help me. They then recruited me to keep tabs on parties at Hogwarts, mainly the Headmaster but a few students as well, they especially wanted me to keep an eye on those with potential. They've been wanting to approach Harry since his second year, but until this past year he was too close to Dumbledore for them to do so. Once they did we ran into each other and ended up as partners. I'm a field surveillance operative, Harry is tactical. The twins were just recruited as development and we would like you to be our research specialist."

Hermione blinked. "This is an awful lot to take in. Let me get this straight. You've been an Unspeakable since our second year at Hogwarts?"

Ginny nodded.

"You're recruited as a field surveillance agent, that's what like spy?"

"Something like that, I try to get advanced information for the tactical team going in before they get into place, I also specialize in wards, putting them up and tearing them down, though I have to admit Harry's become much better at that than I am. I've also had tactical training, but I'm not good enough to qualify as a full tactical operative."

Harry had to put his piece in as well. "She's also extremely perceptive, she catches on to things much faster than I do. When we're working together she often sees little clues I miss." They grinned at each other then Hermione.

"Right, and you," she pointed to Harry, "Are Tactical ops?"

"Was, I told you as of last week all records and memories of Ginny, or myself working in the department were removed or destroyed. It's to protect us. Fudge, Dumbledore even Voldemort may have access to people in the department; this protects our identities. Which reminds me, we should each have a few sets of fake identities set up. I've got a couple now."

"Harry what about tactical ops!" snapped Hermione aggravated at his changing of the subject.

"I go in and follow operational guidelines on how to deal with objective targets."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning if they tell me to bring them in alive I do so. If they tell me to terminate them…"

"They haven't yet…" chimed in Ginny helpfully.

"Yes thankfully, I'm not sure what I'd do if they did."

"They won't now that you're independent be thankful."

"I am."

"And you two are partners?" Hermione asked breaking back into the conversation. "Though it shouldn't surprise me you two have gotten awfully close."

"Yes well we spent a lot of time sneaking around training together. We can fight very effectively as a unit now and…"

"We could do the same weird talk thing…"

"That the twins do, though in our case…"

"It's a bit more conscious effort…"

"While for them it's natural…"

"But we still can get by don't you think Hermione?" they asked together.

Hermione stared at both of them her mouth wide open and Ginny gave Harry a smirk and gave his shoulder a playful punch. "Oh way to go Potter you broke Hermione. Now who are we going to get to do our research?"

"How did you two do that?" asked Hermione a second later as her voice found her again.

Ginny smiled at her and then told her about their teamwork training. "Our instructor had as for an hour every day, but he made us practice in our off times. We had to learn about each other and learn to look for little hints in each other."

"For example, before Ginny casts her favorite bat-bogey hex she grips her wand a bit tighter than normal and gives it a slight twist to the right."

"Or when Harry's about to quick draw his wand he likes to limber his fingers to make sure they're nice and loose."

"So you two spent a lot of time together?" she asked with a wag of her eyebrows causing both of them to blush. The pair hadn't told her that part of their training included doing everyday things for each other including brushing hair, teeth and definitely wouldn't mention the massage's they'd occasionally do for each other to help relax their muscles after a hard work out.

"Yes you might say that, it's part of the reason Ginny doesn't have to worry about putting her elbow in butter dishes anymore, we've become quite comfortable with each other's presence."

"Why I ought to…" she muttered and chucked a pillow at him. Naturally he read her move and dodged to the right, just in time to catch another pillow to the face. "You prefer to go right Potter, you need to work on that." She said with a triumphant smirk.

Harry picked himself up off the floor with as much dignity as he could maintain. "In point of fact we can recognize when we're near each other by our presence. I daresay you'll get to that point with us eventually. Now regarding the twins. They'll be working with the person who created this metal. He's a bit eccentric but very brilliant as is his assistant. They've also gone independent and they will be working with the twins. Their cover story is that they're taking care of the joke shop while Fred and George finish their last year at Hogwarts. The twins are brilliant, I mean look at the things they've developed for humorous and entertaining purposes. I daresay when we ask them for goods they'll deliver in spade."

"As to why you, Hermione, several reasons. The first is you're family; you're like a sister to both Harry and me, and you always look out for us. Secondly you are the smartest witch at Hogwarts and I'm including professors in this account, you do have a tendency to rely too much on what you read but we'll get you over that. Thirdly what you've done is remarkable and as such this will help protect you from some of the earlier threats we discussed."

Hermione blinked a tear away and then tackled the pair wrapping them in a massive hug that would have done Molly Weasley proud.

…

The week past by quickly and Hermione found herself in possession of a single special operations wand and instructions on when not to use it.

As they had to ride to platform nine and three quarters early the next morning Harry was busy packing his trunk. Ginny had come up to give him a hand and make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Most of his possessions were in his unspeakable trunk, but they had to make sure he had enough stuff in his old trunk to not arouse suspicions.

He was busy stuffing spare packs of parchment and quills into the trunk when Ginny smirked and spoke up. "Harry are those blood runes on your trunk?"

He looked up in surprise, he hadn't been expecting anyone to notice the truth behind the decorations he had placed on the lid. "How did you know? I didn't think anyone would see them in the patterns on top."

Ginny smiled and motioned for him to follow her. When they got to her room she grabbed his arm and pulled him in, and then shut the door and opened the lid of her trunk. "I know because I keep the same set of runes in the same place on my trunk."

He smirked at her. "Great minds think alike after all, but let me key you into my wards first."

"Harry you don't have to…"

"If anything happens to me and we need certain items, I want someone to be able to get inside it."

She nodded at the logic and then smiled at him. "Well since you're already here, let me key you into mine for the same reasons."

"Hermione too?"

She nodded, "Yeah it's more likely for her to get into the girls dorm than you."

"I daresay I wouldn't be opposed to trying at least once." She swatted him and then he nodded towards the trunk. "Though most of my important stuff is kept in my special trunk I'll leave my invisibility cloak and the map in this old one, Dumbledore would expect it, if he had a way to search the trunks. I'll key you in so you can get that, the map comes in awful handy."

"How are you carrying your special trunk?"

He held up a chain with it disguised as a pendant on the end, she smirked and brought out the exact same thing.

…

Ron showed up for the first time that night as he had come home from training. He gave Harry a back slapping hug and a quick "good to see you mate" and then vanished to his room to work on his lessons Moody had given him. Everyone gave Harry a nervous look as if wondering how he would take this new development but he merely smiled. "If working with an Auror was all we needed to get Ron to do homework we should have found someone ages ago."

Everyone chuckled and Ginny caught his eye and the two made there way outside for a walk around before night fell.

"Are you alright Harry? I know seeing Ron like that must have been a shock."

Harry shook his head. "He's grown up a lot. At least I think he has, I guess time will tell."

She nodded and she pushed against him as he wrapped an arm lightly around her shoulder. "So tell me Potter, why am I not breaking your arm right now?"

"Because I've got a great smile and a fit body?"

"True, but not right."

"Because I've got dreamy eyes and butter dish worthy hair?"

She elbowed him hard causing him to wince.

"Because we're best friends and partners who care about each other?"

"If it took you that long we might have to find someone for intelligence analysis as well."

"Hermione can handle that." He said only half joking as they made their way to a hill with a great view of the field they played Quidditch in. He sighed and got serious. "I'm worried about this year."

"I am too. Between Dumbledore and Tom we're going to have to be very careful."

"Did we do the right thing bringing Hermione in? I almost feel it's placing her in more danger."

"Hermione is smart and has enough mental prowess to throw off an obliviate. If we hadn't brought her in she'd put the facts together and probably come up with the right conclusion. At least this way she already knows and won't be giving anyone else hints on what's going on. If we hadn't brought her in she'd be in more danger. I am a bit worried about Ron."

He waved his hand and the two ended up sitting on an old park bench he had conjured. "I'm worried about Ron too, but I'm guessing for different reasons."

She nodded. "He's at the ministry a lot for his training now. Even at Hogwarts he was given a port-key for a weekly lesson. It's well known how close the two of you are and Fudge is too paranoid to not try something."

Harry thought about her words he hadn't considered what Ron would have to deal with and hung his head in shame. "I was more worried with his new training he might be able to figure out what was going on with us. Even with our great trade-craft we're only human."

Ginny smiled. "Don't feel guilty about it Harry. You've taken oaths of secrecy and even though they've been released you're still honorable enough to uphold them. That Ron is a threat to your nobility is something that has to be weighing on your mind."

He paused for a moment and then decided that he trusted her. He had already placed his life in her hands and she had proved herself worthy. "I'm worried about grand-mère. I'm not going to see her for a year Gin, what if something happens to them. She told me that Voldemort is trying to get someone into InterBUn and she's target number one if he manages it.

She gave him a moments pause and then squeezed his hand. He hadn't even realized she was holding it until then. "A summer's night the stars aglow, just for a moment Harry, relax. Perenelle doesn't want you to worry about her, she's safer in France now anyway. Tom's too busy with us to do too much on the continent."

He nodded and the two teens relaxed together. For a moment they weren't highly trained specialists. For a moment they weren't the boy who lived and the girl who was once possessed by Voldemort. For a moment they let fortune, fantasy and faith alone to themselves and were simply two people enjoying a sunset and a moonrise together.


End file.
